Of Dragons, Demons, and Devils
by Daaazer
Summary: Natsu Dragneel, dragon slayer (for the most part). Of course, when you're a dragons slayer unlike any other, issues tend to pop up. There's the ever present desire to show his worth, but not against ordinary mages. There is also the desire to find a mate, and one platinum blonde certainly isn't helping. And there's always the promise he made to Zeref about fighting a death god.
1. Chapter 1

**What's up guys! I'm back with a fourth story. Why? I want to do it. It's fun. This will be Fairy Tail, but that's why you clicked this story. Anyway, I want to tell you this. Natsu will be over powered, but I have a reason. I feel in canon, that he is weak and is really stupid. A good fighter, but weak. Also, I will really power up most of the large enemies like Mard Geer and Acnologia and basically everyone that isn't human. So, people like Erza or Gray will be stronger, but they won't be as powered up as Natsu or other enemies in this story. I will change the story a lot, so expect changes. Large events that are important for character development like Tower of Haven and Tenrou will stay, things like Deloria won't though. ON with the chapter! What kind of powers should Natsu have, and specifically Dragon slayer magic?**

Natsu glanced around trying to find his father. It was often that he disappeared for days on end. This time though, was a game of hide and seek. An eight-year-old child has to have some sort of fun, right? Natsu closed his eyes and tried to focus on his sense of smell. Natsu's eyes snapped open and he raced off. Natsu ran for a good five minutes before coming to a small large clearing. Natsu eyes immediately registered his father, Igneel, and one other dragon. Said dragon had black scales, red lines running along his body, and one large white crest on his chest, spreading from his torso to the base of his wings.

"Dad. Who is this?" Natsu asked.

"You need not worry, Child. I have no name, not anymore at least," the dragon said.

"Natsu, it has been foretold that you will be put through hell and back again, literally," Igneel said.

"But why are you here?" Natsu asked innocently.

"I've decided that you will be the only exception to our rule for dragon slayers and their respective dragons," the other dragon spoke.

"Rule?" Natsu asked, "What rule?"

"Well Natsu, there are other dragon slayers like you, and they have dragons like you. Whence they mastered their slayer arts, the dragons would leave. Specifically, on the date of July 7, 777," Igneel said.

"That is today though," Natsu said worriedly, "You're not leaving me are you?"

"No child, as we said, you will be the only exception to this rule due to your specific nature. You see Natsu, you will be the savior of us, or our destruction. We've seen what you shall face, and it has been decreed that you will be our only exception," the dragon said, "You will come to our… realm as you would call it. You shall be trained extensively by multiple dragons, but one main dragon. Our dragon of Apocalypse."

"But isn't that Acnologia?" Natsu asked.

"No Natsu, that abomination is a pseudodragon. He should not exist. He is no real dragon, but you will be, in time," Igneel said, "He was once a dragon slayer, trained by the true dragon of Apocalypse. The true dragon is far more powerful, as are the rest of us. That magic had to be taught to him somehow."

 **12 years later**

"Natsu, it is time for you to depart," Igneel said.

"I know," Natsu said.

"Don't forget though, you are allowed to visit at any time, you know how to get back," Igneel said before disappearing.

"Guess it had to happen sometime," Natsu said to himself, "I've had so little time around my own species."

Natsu had been training nonstop for the past twelve years. It had been exhilarating to learn so much. Natsu now knew five regular dragon slayer arts, three lost arts, two king arts, and one of his own. Of course, two of the five regular arts had no combat use, the most powerful lost art was inaccessible unless he was an actual dragon, which he wasn't yet, and the one of his own would be inaccessible to him until he found the book of E.N.D.

Natsu already knew what he was, and he honestly didn't care. He did want to find his brother though. It would be nice when he could finally save him from his curse. Natsu eventually got up from his perch in the tree and walked through the forest. Natsu walked around aimlessly before finding a sign of civilization. Natsu walked forward until he reached a giant gate with the words Magnolia written on it. Natsu entered the large city and wandered around.

Natsu had grown used to suppressing all of his magical energy in order to stay hidden better. With magic pools the size of oceans, it could be extremely overwhelming for anyone, even regular citizens. Natsu ambled around for a good hour before finally finding a large building. His acute sense of smell could smell all of the alcohol, something he had a penchant for. He couldn't get drunk due to his main element, fire dragon slaying magic. It burned off all of the alcohol before he could feel it, but it tasted really good.

Natsu opened the door and immediately got hit in the head with a table. Natsu looked around and saw the destruction. Perfect! Natsu was good at a good many things, but none so much as destruction. He loved to destroy things. Natsu briefly registered the person flying towards him. Natsu reached out and snagged his shirt and stopped him from flying out of the hall. He was a big man, a muscle-bound freak if one had to describe him. Easily standing at 6'9, which was tall. Natsu was 6'1 with unruly pink- sorry, salmon- hair which was quite tall, with the hair making him even taller. Eyes snapped towards the new person in the guild who had easily caught the heaviest person in the guild.

"He caught Elfman…" someone muttered.

"So that's your name?" Natsu asked to the person he caught.

"Finally! A REAL MAN!" Elfman shouted loudly causing Natsu to wince.

"Names Natsu."

"Well, Natsu, welcome to Fairy Tail!" a person shouted.

Natsu set Elfman down and walked over to the bar. He planned on ordering a nice bottle of beer, but maybe that was too much to ask.

"Hello, my name's Mirajane, call me Mira," a bubbly voice came from behind the counter. The owner of said bubbly voice had silver hair and was extremely beautiful.

"Natsu."

"Are you here to join the guild?" Mira asked.

"Why not," Natsu thought to himself before responding, "Yes."

"Alrighty now. Where and what color should your guild mark go?" Mira asked.

"Can I have it red on my right bicep?" Natsu asked.

"OF course," Mira said as she pressed the hot stamp onto his arm. A second later, it was pulled back and revealed a large red stamp.

"Now that this is done, can I get your strongest alcohol?" Natsu asked.

"Are you sure?" Mira asked, "It's nearly fifty-six percent alcohol."

"Pretty strong, but yes. It's literally impossible for me to get drunk," Natsu said happily.

A second or two later, Natsu had a large jug placed in front of him, foaming amber liquid in front of him. Natsu drained it in a few gulps and let out a content sigh. Natsu looked around and saw that Mirajane was looking at him.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Well, I was wondering. You joined a mage's guild, but we have no idea what kind of magic you use," Mira said.

"I better keep the others a secret and down play my skills," Natsu thought.

"Well, I use a lost magic. Dragon slayer magic," Natsu said, "Specifically fire dragon slayer magic."

"That's interesting, I've heard of slayer magic, but not much," Mira said.

"Yeah, I was raised by a dragon," Natsu said.

"Really?" Mira asked.

"Yeah, his name was Igneel, he's pretty awesome!" Natsu said happily, cracking a large grin.

"Where is he now?" Mira asked.

"He's… I'm not really sure," Natsu half lied. He kinda knew, like the general area, just no exactly where.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Mira said.

"Oh it's fine, I can always find him," Natsu said happily, "So… where is there to stay?"

"Do you have jewels?" Mira asked.

"I have enough sitting around," Natsu said.

"Well, there are a few places around town. Some are higher end and cost a lot. OF course, I would recommend buying your own place," Mira said.

"Actually, I've never really been one for a house, I prefer the forest," Natsu said.

"Well, there are plenty around the guild, so you can always stay there," Mira said.

"That is true," Natsu said.

"So do you plan on going to do any jobs?" Mira asked.

"Well, I've just arrived, and I haven't spent much time as a true mage. So… I'm not entirely sure what to do," Natsu said.

"Alright, I got it. So there are multiple levels of jobs. You have the normal level which can be completed without much issue. Then there are the S-class jobs. These can last as long as a year, and are very difficult. Then you have SS-class jobs that are also known as decade quests. They are rarely completed, mostly left to Guild aces and Wizard Saints.

Lastly, you have the SSS-class jobs. They are the hardest, and only the Ishgar 4 and five other people are considered able to return alive, much less complete them. Only two people have ever completed them, God Serena and our Guild Ace. He is currently on one as we…" Mira said before being cut off by a large siren.

"Warning! Gildarts Shift has now commenced. All citizens must return to their homes immediately," a voice rang out loudly as the entire city began to rumble and shake as entire sections of it were moved to accommodate for Gildarts.

Suddenly the rumbling stopped for a second, only for a wall to crumble into small cubes and a path of white energy headed straight towards the bar. The flooring behind the blast becoming cubes. Everyone stared in horror as it headed straight towards the new guy. Natsu glanced over from his conversation with Mira to see it. Natsu casually placed his hand out and stopped the blast, not even moving as the force of the blast stopping forced most of the things behind him to shatter or crumble. Natsu promptly went back to his conversation with Mira. The rest of the guild just gaped and a few passed out. Mira had turned around so she had no idea what had happened. It was normal for a blast like that to come tearing through when Gildarts arrived.

"I'm back!" a cheerful voice rang out from the destroyed wall. Said figure had orange hair and blue eyes and wore a black tattered cloak and grey clothes.

"Gildarts! How's it been?" Natsu cried out upon seeing his friend.

"Natsu?" Gildarts asked as he raced over to Natsu, small tremors going off every time he took a step.

"How's it been old man?" Natsu asked.

"A lot better since you staved off that beast with me," Gildarts said, "That would be my second century quest, and it was a success too. I get to keep my perfect record."

"Hey Gildarts," Mira said as she appeared behind the counter, "You know Natsu?"

"Hell yeah!" he shouted, "Who do you think helped me with my quest."

"You just said it was some kid with salmon hair and… Oh never mind," Mira said.

"Yeah, we met on our mission, and traveled around for bit. He taught me crash magic," Natsu said.

"Are you finally done with your training?" Gildarts asked Natsu.

"Actually, I got done a day ago and came here on accident," Natsu said, "We still have a bet you know."

"I know, the score is 2-3, in my favor. You ready to lose?" Gildarts taunted.

"I can't wait. I'm all fired up!" Natsu yelled. Natsu registered a small, white haired man land on the bar.

"Ah, Gildarts," he said before noticing Natsu, "And New kid, names Makarov. I'm the guild master."

"Natsu. Natsu Dragneel," Natsu laughed.

"Gildarts, we need to talk," Makarov said.

"Gildarts can I come too?" Natsu asked like an innocent child.

"No child, you can-" Makarov said before Gildarts silenced him.

"That would actually be a good idea Makarov, we need to talk," Gildarts said.

"Fine, office," he said.

Everyone sat in Makarov's office and they looked at each other before getting down to business.

"Look, Makarov, the century quest was a success," Gildarts said.

"You mean to tell me you were actually able to fend of Acnologia?" Makarov asked.

"No, I wasn't," Gildarts said.

"Then how were you able to beat him?" Makarov asked.

"If you would have let me finish," Gildarts sighed, "Look, I wasn't able to, but one other person was able to. Natsu Dragneel. Three years ago. It wasn't victory, but a draw. I wasn't even able to damage him, but Natsu, he was able to nearly kill Acnologia, but Acnologia almost killed Natsu in the process as well."

"You mean to tell me this brat is stronger than you?" Makarov asked staring at Natsu.

"No," Natsu piped up, "I was below Gildarts three years ago and got lucky two of the five times we battled. I was only able to draw with Acnologia because of my magic. I have dragon slayer magic. Fire dragon slayer magic, but dragon slayer magic. I was taught by the fire dragon kind Igneel, and trained for nearly sixteen years."

"You're leaving something out Natsu," Gildarts said.

"Can I trust him," Natsu asked. Gildarts nodded.

"I can use more than one dragon slayer art though. I have four others," Natsu half-lied. He couldn't give away all of his secrets.

The chat went on for a few hours before everyone got finished with their business and went their separate ways.

 **A week later**

"Natsu," Mira asked, "You need a job yet?"

"Yeah, I was going to get one. Do you want to come with me?" Natsu asked, "That way you can show me the ins and outs of these jobs."

"I would, but I… I don't have any magic anymore," Mira said, tears lining her eyes.

"Yes you do. I can feel it right now," Natsu said, "You locked it. I can unlock it if you want."

"Very much," Mira said.

"Alright then. Just grab a job and meet me in the woods east of here," Natsu said.

 **Hey guys. Do you want the paring to be Natsu x Mira or Natsu x Erza? Those are the only two that I will do in this story. Or Both? I guess I can work that in.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys. Let's talk for a moment. I know you want what you want for this story, but this is very important to me, and in my opinion, should be to you to. Last chapter, I gave three choices, NaMi, NaZa, or all three. I only put the third one because it was requested of me. Look at it this way, say you have a boyfriend or girlfriend. Think about how they would feel if you were to have a second boyfriend or girlfriend and thy knew about it.**

 **What do you think they would feel? Recently, I went to Homecoming with my friend. I thought up this story about a month ago so I could get the large plot points down. During that time, I was thinking about the pairing. I knew it would be one of the two, NaZa or NaMi, and honestly, I was steering towards NaMi because there aren't a whole lot of those stories.**

 **So, when I went to Homecoming with my friend, which was quite fun by the way (I recommend going if you haven't gone or can't go yet and want to), and I was thinking about how she would feel if I did that. I value my friends and family more than anything, including myself. I talk to her just about every day, and I came to a decision yesterday after we were both got home from Homecoming. She said she enjoyed it a lot, and so did I. I thought about it, how would she feel about it. I let her read the stories I write, but I was hesitant to let her read last chapter, or the end at least because of the question I gave you. She actually liked the chapter, but saw the question.**

 **She had this reproachful look on her face. I told her why I had put it there, and she forgave me. I put myself in her shoes as she read it, and it was horrible. I can't bring myself to write a story with three or more people in a romantic relationship. This is why I am so against writing harem stories. I just can't do it. So yeah. The pairing for this story will be NaMi. Here are the results.**

 **Current scores:**

 **Mira: 8 plus me**

 **Erza: 3, sorry. I will write a NaZa story in the near future though. I will do it when this one is about 25k-30k words which shouldn't take too long.**

"Natsu?" Mira called out. No response, just like the other times, the five other tries.

"I'm here," the response finally came, "I had to set something up. Sorry."

"It's fine, but what did you have to do?" Mira asked.

"Well, you see… You put a lock on your magic container. Not on purpose but probably through grief given how strong it is. You see, there is only one real way to remove it now. I wasn't sure, but you were a Take-Over mage, right?" Natsu asked.

"Yes, why?" Mira asked.

"That is why I had to set something up. You see… how do I put this lightly… I have to kill you," Natsu said bluntly. Mira faltered and nearly chocked on air.

"You have to kill me!?" Mira shouted.

"Yeah, but don't worry. I've done this a few times before," Natsu said, "Now if you could just follow me and step in the large red circle. That would be great."

"What is it?" Mira asked gazing at the giant magic circle, scorched into the ground. It had three rings, the smallest and innermost being red, and about fifteen feet in diameter. That would be quite a bit of room to work with, but why did he need all of it?

"Now, calm down for a second. You have to promise me that you won't freak out," Natsu said, getting a nod from Mirajane, "When a take-over mage dies, the souls that they had taken over are either destroyed, or depending on how strong they are, will manage to survive with most of their power intact. And you are using devil souls, right?" Natsu asked.

"What are devils?" Mira asked. As far as she knew they were using demon souls.

"Devils are from the books of devils while demons are simply dark beings, while not necessary bad, are not considered pure. A devil though, they are the pure form. They are created solely by Zeref, but not to destroy, but to purge himself of his demons and sins. He wasn't the dark mage everyone said he was, but inherently good. The fools now a days though, they believe that he wished to rule. That is not true," Natsu explained, "What was the name of your strongest take-over?"

"Satan Soul: Sitri," Mirajane replied curious.

"Well, that's actually not a demon, but a devil that previously belonged to the Tartaros guild. You see, devils are also referred to as Etherious, but only those devils that belong in Zeref's book. The other devils, have either been released or were killed and reformed after hundreds of years. It's common knowledge that Zeref is at least four hundred years old, or would be," Natsu explained.

"That's quite interesting, but can we get started again, I've been in the mood for magic ever since… well, a while now," Mira said.

"Yeah, by the way. Why did you never let anyone help you?" Natsu asked.

"What do you mean?" Mira asked.

"The only way for your lock to grow that strong is for it to have been there for years, unfixed which means that you still haven't gotten over whatever it was that caused you so much grief," Natsu said.

"I… I don't know. I lost her you know, and it was never the same," Mira said.

"Well, we'll handle it when we come to it," Natsu said, "Now, into the circle!"

Mira stepped into the red circle and Natsu entered a second after, finger lightly sparking, not that Mira noticed it. Mira turned around to see Natsu who had just stepped into the circle as well. Natsu walked forward and looked around for a second, causing Mirajane to do the same. Natsu took advantage and reached his hand out, pushing his finger against Mira's impressive chest, and sending a large current of electricity into her body, effectively stopping her heart. Natsu looked around for a second before three sets of lights appeared behind Mira. Natsu seeing this, repeated the same process, this time restarting her heart. Natsu jumped into the second circle, placed Mira down and activated the third circle. Moments later, the three lights flew back into Mira's body, the souls returning. Natsu looked around for a second, catching a bit of residual ethernano particles moving around the innermost circle.

Natsu took Mira out of the circles and blasted the earth with a weak fire stream that scorched the earth, removing all of the circles. He couldn't have those just sitting around. Natsu waited for a few minutes before finally getting kinda bored and deciding to go swim in the nearby river. Granted, it would be ice cold, but Natsu had a natural body temperature that would cause water to evaporate if left unchecked. It could probably go farther than that, but Natsu never checked.

Natsu set Mira down before taking off his signature white scarf off and black cloak and shirt. Natsu threw them fairly close to the bank so they would be easily obtainable. Natsu seeing that everything was in order, ran and dived into the water, going deep beneath the surface. Natsu swam around for a bit, trying to find anything to eat. Natsu sat still for a second, letting his fire magic sense any outside heat sources. Natsu waited until one swam up near him, and in a display of speed and strength, grabbed the large fish from the water and tossed it onto the shore a few feet away. Natsu repeated the process a few more times in order to get a substantial meal for himself and Mira.

As soon as Natsu finished, he leapt out of the water and began to concentrate on his fire magic. Natsu concentrated, controlling the shape and heat of the flames around his hand to perfectly cook the hearty meat. After about five minutes, the food was ready, but Mira was not. Natsu did the only thing he could think of and splashed a handful of water into her face. Seconds later, an angry take-over mage stood before Natsu, ready to rip his eyes out and use them as bait, or ping pong balls. Whichever one presented the opportunity first.

"Foods ready," Natsu said cluelessly, "How do you feel?"

"I feel wet," Mira glared.

"Give me a second then. Where are you cold?" Natsu asked. Mira just glared at him and pointed towards her general face and torso area. Natsu then proceeded to stick his hand out and flared his magic very slightly. Seconds later, a dry, (still furious) Mira sat in front of Natsu.

"So… We going to eat yet or not?" Natsu asked not paying attention. If he was, he would have seen Mira shoving some of the fish down her gullet. Natsu opened his eyes and saw Mira, fish halfway in her mouth, then to the pile of cooked fish. Half of it was gone.

"M-m-my precious f-fish!" Natsu yelled, crying anime tears.

"To slow," Mira laughed.

"Who would have known you had such an appetite," Natsu said before slapping a hand of his mouth. Natsu looked over to Mira to see her flipping into her satan soul.

"You got a problem with it?" Mira asked sweetly.

"N-no, I th-think it's awesome," Natsu stuttered before whispering, "Please don't kill me."

"Good," Mira said calming down and proceeding to eat her meal, and Natsu's as well

As soon as they were done eating, Natsu and Mira headed off. Natsu hadn't looked at the mission yet, because he had let Mira pick it.

"So, Mira. What exactly is the job we are doing?" Natsu asked.

"Take a look," Mira said as she handed Natsu the paper with the information on it. Natsu scanned over all of the details before coming to the rank.

"Mira, this is S-rank," Natsu said.

"I know," Mira said.

"But, I'm not an S-rank mage," Natsu said, "And you just got your magic back."

"Ah details, details," Mira said.

"Mira," Natsu said, "We shouldn't do this you know."

"Oh well, we are already gone," Mira retorted.

"Fine."

Natsu and Mira walked through the forests. It took several hours, but they finally reached a small village where they could stay. Natsu looked at the location for the job, which was rather near, but it was another hour until they would reach it.

"Push on or no?" Natsu said.

"Keep going," Mira said.

Natsu tried to argue but was silenced quickly by a withering gaze from Mira. Natsu and Mira forged on, finally reaching the town. Natsu and Mira found the nearest inn to stay and got two rooms. It had ben decreed in the morning that they would be going off to find the mayor for the job parameters and extra information. Natsu and Mira went to their rooms and finished their daily routines. Natsu woke up in the morning at 5:30 like he always did and got ready. After that, he had a few hours, or so he thought. Turns out, Mira woke up around the same time because of her job at the guild as bartender which forced her to get up early.

"Ready to go?" Natsu asked as he and Mira grabbed a quick breakfast and headed out of the inn.

"I should think so," Mira said, "We also need to get you some new clothes."

"Why?" Natsu whined.

"You wear the same thing pretty much every day you know," Mira said.

"Fine, but the scarf stays!" Natsu shouted, waking up everyone in the inn.

Natsu and Mirajane headed to the Mayor's office for the information. Natsu walked p to the secretary and spoke to her a second before walking back to Mira and speaking to her for a moment. Moments later, they were heading up to the office.

"Ah, Fairy Tail mages I see," the mayor spoke.

"We are here for the mission you sent out a week or so ago," Natsu said.

"Ah yes. Well, here is the thing, one of the wizard saints tried to handle it already. He is kinda dead," the mayor spoke, "He was unable to even scratch the monster."

"How is he only kinda dead?" Mira asked.

"Verbal tick, sorry," the mayor said, "But more importantly, what makes you think you can handle it? if a wizard saint failed, how would you even stand a chance?"

"Do you want it handled or not?" Natsu asked rhetorically, "We die, that's our issue, but just tell us where it is and we will deal with it."

"The mountain directly east of the village," the mayor sighed.

"Besides, I already know what kind of monster it is," Natsu said as they left. About an hour later, Natsu and Mira were standing inside the mouth of a cave.

"So, what are we fighting?" Mira asked.

"Not we, me. You couldn't even scratch it," Natsu said.

"What is it?" Mir asked slightly annoyed.

"Wyverns. Distant relative of dragons, but still having dragon like qualities, including the scale which means you won't be able to harm it without hurting using dragon slayer moves, or repeated battery in the same spot on the armor," Natsu explained.

"I can help!" Mira yelled.

 **Alright guys! What kind of dragon slayer magic should Natsu have aside from the fire and lighting dragon slayer magic. He will get lightning dragon slayer magic like in canon, kind of. But the other three are up for grabs. Give me a reason as well, if you want.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sup guys! I really have to thank you for all of the reviews and feedback. I got some amazing ideas from some of you, so thanks a lot. You know who you are. Now, I thank you for the support in my decision to keep it a single woman and not harem. Anyway, I hope you guys have a good day. I have three dragon slayer magics chosen out, because two were said multiple times, and the other ones were just really creative. Again, you know who you are. On with the Chapter!**

Natsu took a deep breath before roaring directly into the cave. A stream of pure, white hot fire flew straight into the cave. That should flush them out, then they would be easy pickings as he would be able to see all of them. Natsu strained his ears for a second before hearing the sound of wings. Of course, a normal person wouldn't be able to hear it, but dragon slayers have heightened senses. Natsu felt the air heat up and start buzzing. That meant one, possibly two of three things, it was a fire wyvern, a fire based wyvern, or there were a shit ton of wyverns coming straight for him. Natsu had just enough time to duck as a white streak raced out of the caved, followed by a black, red then yellow streak. And Natsu felt one more presence, still lurking towards the back of the cave.

Natsu ignored it to face the four wyverns now in front of him. Natsu cursed his luck, because while not extremely dangerous to him, four was a lot to keep track of, and Mira was still around. Natsu lit his hands on fire for a second before bowing. It was only customary.

 **"** **Human,"** one of the wyverns spoke, **"Why do you bow to us?"**

"A sign of respect," Natsu said which slightly confused the wyverns.

 **"** **It has been a long time since anyone has ever done that. The time of the slayers, if I am not mistaken,"** the wyvern said.

"Well, you'd be delighted to know that I happen to be a slayer," Natsu said cheerily.

" **Really?"** he asked, **"Interesting that you still follow the rules of old."**

"Look, I know. I get it, Igneel is old, but why does everyone keep saying that!" Natsu yelled. The wyvern, slightly taken aback, looked on in confusion.

 **"** **Igneel you say? So, he is still around? I figured he would have been long gone by now,"** they wyvern spoke, **"And you speak as if there are still slayers around, and that the old ways are not dead."**

"There are a few. Myself, one I met on my journey, Acnologia," Natsu rambled on before being stopped by the wyvern.

 **"** **You know the truth then?"**

"I mean, I should hope so. I fought him once," Natsu said.

 **"** **You fought him? And are still alive?"**

Natsu patted himself down for a second and spun around a few times,  
Yup, pretty sure I'm alive."

 **"** **You are an interesting one. you know that?"**

"I've been told a few times," Natsu laughed.

"I'm still here to you know," Mira sighed quietly.

 **"** **Why are you here, son of Igneel?"** the wyvern spoke.

"Well you see, there was this job to beat the monster living in this cage, but you don't seem that bad. Did you guys attack the village down there?" Natsu asked gesturing behind him.

" **No Son of Igneel. But… I know who did. Out of respect for your father, we will leave, but be warned. The being inside that cave is far stronger than we are,"** the wyvern said before disappearing.

"Whelp fuck. That means that inside the cave… Well, I hope I'm wrong," Natsu said.

"Are you done chatting?" Mira asked.

"Quite done, but stay out here for me, please," Natsu said.

"But what if you need my help?" Mira asked, "I'm coming inside with you."

"It wasn't a question. I refuse to allow you into that cave, even if I have to knock you out," Natsu growled.

Mira looked like she was about to argue, but it died in her throat. Natsu turned around and walked into the cave silently, closing his eyes and extending his senses. Natsu felt his magic lock onto a large source of heat, as his fire dragon's slayer magic allowed him to sense heat. Natsu took a second to analyze it. Natsu felt the heat, which felt like a few things he had faced before. The issue was how hot it was. It was close to the heat given off by Atlas Flame who was said to exude an aura comparable to lava.

Natsu walked for a few minutes before coming to large chamber close to the end of the cave. Natsu felt the heat coming from the other side of the room and lit a quick flame so he could see. Natsu looked up towards the end of the room and saw two glowing red eyes, boring into his chest. Natsu spoke quickly,

"I know you're there. Why not come out?"

 **"** **A bit cocky, even for a human, aren't we?"** a deep, gravelly voice spoke.

"Not being arrogant here, I'm just saying I know that you are here and what you are," Natsu spoke.

 **"** **And if I do show myself, then what?"**

"I'll figure it out when we get there," Natsu said.

 **"** **You're going to die,"** it said.

"That is true, but not by your hands," Natsu said before rushing forward, hands ablaze. The red eyes flashed for a second before the cave lit up. Natsu saw a thirty-foot, draconic beast standing in front of him. It had black scales with red at the edges, large, folded wings, and four short legs. It stood at about twenty feet tall, and was quite imposing. Or it would have been, if Natsu wasn't raised by beings ten times this size when they were small.

Natsu rushed forward, eyes gleaming, hands once again ablaze, glowing with deep crimson color. Natsu slid under the barbed tail that was swung at him. Natsu slid on his knees, leaning back until his head could practically touch the ground. The tail passed over him, but Natsu wasn't having that, so he grabbed onto the tail and used it to gain speed. Natsu used the curve from the tail as it swung as a way to shoot forward with great speed.

"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist," Natsu yelled before slamming his hand straight into the Drake's face. If the drake felt it, it did not show it. Natsu barely had time to dodge the second attack that came his way but saw that the drake was about to grab him with one of its claws. Natsu expelled fire from all directions. Natsu felt the drake shrink back slightly but continue on after a second of hesitation, but it was all Natsu needed. Natsu leapt up, landing on the outstretched claw and using it as a spring board, heading straight to the drake's face a second time.

Natsu grabbed the drake's head before slamming his leg down into the drake's skull. Natsu felt a small shockwave as the drake's head shot down, Natsu on close pursuit. Natsu was about to reach the drake again before he felt a large amount of magic flow through its body. Natsu barely dodged the large glob of lava that flew through the air.

Natsu flipped himself upright and shouted, "Fire dragon's roar!"

The force was enough to stop him and change his directions, but the glob of lava was still able o catch his clothes, and while it didn't hurt, it served as a way to slow him down heavily. Natsu glared at the drake for a moment, dodging the next strike with easy only for the drake to go shooting by with easy. Natsu turned to look at the true destination and saw one Mirajane walking into the cavern. Natsu might have been able to handle lava, but Mirajane was not.

"Natsu?" Mira said before seeing the drake racing forward. In an instant, Mira activated her Satan soul and dodged the strike only for a wave of lava to come shooting towards her. Natsu saw that she wasn't going o be able to dodge it and did something really stupid. There are only a few rules with eating your element. One, never eat your own magic. Two, never try to eat a higher tier element, and three. Never, ever, try to ingest an element that is not your own. And Natsu did exactly that.

Natsu inhaled and darted in between Mira and the lave, opening his mouth and sucking all of the magic down. Natsu coughed for a moment before looking up, small scales forming around his eyes. Natsu rushed forward, ending the fight in one blow. The smoking crater and burning ash blew away.

"Natsu?" Mira asked, though it was no use. He was already unconscious on the ground.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys? How's it going? Anyway, thanks for all of the support. Anyway, I want to know, do you want longer chapters? I can do that, so yeah. Anyway, on with the chapter!**

Natsu looked around at the white space around him. It was a perfectly blank, nothing for miles, or inches. It was impossible to tell. Natsu couldn't even feel the floor.

"Huh," Natsu said to himself, "Must be my mind."

Natsu walked around for a bit, or floated, either worked. Natsu saw a small splotch of color, off near the distance and tried to get to it, but was stopped in his tracks by a wall. That meant that the splotch must be on the wall, or there must be some sort of barrier.

"You're dumber than I thought," a voice said behind him.

"Why are you here?" Natsu asked.

"Same reason you are. It's kinda your fault we are here," he said.

"Look E.N.D. I get it. You don't want to be here, but neither do I so chill," Natsu said.

"You know how boring it is in here?" he asked.

"Yeah, it's my mind! It's filled with literally nothing," Natsu said.

"So why don't you change it?" END asked.

"Yeah… Nah," Natsu said.

"Look, just get your hands on the book and burn it, that's all you have to do," END said.

"Yeah I know, but we actually have to go find Tartaros first," Natsu said before disappearing.

"He's finally gone," END said before looking around, "Wait… Fuu-"

Natsu opened his eyes and looked around or a little bit. His eyes registered his surroundings and he realized where he was. He was in a hospital, but why was his hair longer? He must have been out for a while. Natsu didn't move for a bit and waited for anything to happen. There was nobody in the room so what point was there in moving.

"Damn it," Natsu said, "Why'd I have to eat lava? I must have a death wish. Oh wait, Mira… that's right. I wonder how she is."

Natsu was cut off from further thoughts by the door. Natsu looked over and swung himself out of bed, walking towards the door. The door swung open and Natsu saw three people. Makarov, Mira, and Gildarts.

"I was wondering when you guys would show up," Natsu said as he casually stretched and walked around.

"Get your ass back in bed!" Mira shouted.

"Why?" Natsu asked.

"You've been out for the past two weeks!" Mira shouted.

"I know," Natsu said, "But what does that have to do with anything?"

"You shouldn't be walking around. You could hurt yourself. And you need to explain why you passed out," Makarov stated.

"Well, I had to eat some lava to save Mira, then I killed the monster. Simple as that. Please tell me that you at least collected the reward," Natsu said. Natsu barely dodged the bad of jewels that came flying at his face.

"So, why'd you pass out for two weeks?" Makarov asked.

"The thing about dragon slayers is that they can only eat their own element. I had to eat one that was not my own, so my body struggled to cope with it," Natsu said, "Simple."

"Dragon slayers can eat their own element?" Makarov muttered under his breath, "I'd better tell Laxus."

"Yeah you should. That lacrima can only hold so much of his own element, so it would hold even less from another element," Natsu said.

"You could hear me?" Makarov asked.

"What are you guys talking about?" Mira asked, angry about not being included.

"I have heightened senses, I can hear, see, smell, taste, and even my sense of touch is far more developed. It's my magic that causes it. That's also how I knew he was a second-generation slayer. He smells very strongly of the magic, but it is… impure, imperfect. As with all magics from lacrima, it will never be as powerful as the true magic," Natsu said.

"Second generation?" Mira asked.

"Yeah, it refers to how dragon slayers are taught, or more specifically, how they received the magic and through what means. I am a first-generation dragon slayer, as I was taught by an actual dragon. A second-generation slayer received their magic though a dragon lacrima, and a third-generation dragon slayer has both been taught by a dragon and has a lacrima implanted into their body," Natsu said.

"So who is the other dragon slayer in the guild?" Mira asked.

"It's up to him to tell you or not to tell you," Makarov said.

"I only know because I'm a dragon slayer," Natsu said, "He's lucky though. He won't have to deal with motion sickness."

"You have motion sickness?" Makarov asked.

"Yeah, all dragon slayers with a certain level of power or higher will have motion sickness. I have trained my body for years to not be as effected by it, but I still am affected by it," Natsu said.

"Huh, that's an interesting effect of your magic," Makarov said.

"It's due to our heightened senses," Natsu said, "Can I leave yet?"

"No! Like Mira said, get your ass back in bed!" Makarov said.

"It's fine," Natsu said as he threw on his shirt and scarf and walked out.

Natsu walked out of the infirmary and looked around. Natsu sat down at the bar and ordered some food. He was hungry, but who wouldn't be after two weeks of unconsciousness. Natsu ate quickly before walking out of the guild hall. Natsu looked around for a bit before smelling something. It wasn't an odd smell, just familiar. He had noticed it before, but he paid no attention to it.

Natsu looked around for a second before jumping on top of the guild hall with a few well-placed leaps. Natsu saw a small figure sitting on the corner of the roof, legs dangling off the side. Natsu walked over quietly and plopped down. She smelled familiar, really familiar. But why was the question. Natsu could smell the strong scent of alcohol coming from her. Only one person had this kinda smell.

"You're Gildarts' kid, aren't you?" Natsu asked.

"How would you know?" she asked, "Names Cana."

"So, you are. He neve mentioned having a child," Natsu said.

"I'm quite aware. He doesn't even know I exist. I'm his daughter, but I never say anything," Cana said.

"Well you should tell him. He's always wanted a child, you know," Natsu said, "That's why he can never stay in one place for to long. He has nothing to come home to. He barley even cares for himself you. He's afraid his past will catch up to him."

"But I am his past. I'm quite literally a living embodiment of the biggest mistake he ever made," Cana said.

"That's a lie. He loved her you know. He even came back, but she was gone by then. Gildarts wanted to have a family with her, despite the fact that he never mentioned her by name. Besides, the biggest mistake he ever made was taking the century quest without a dragon slayer. No one but a slayer can kill him, or even hurt him for that matter," Natsu said, "It cost him an arm and a leg, and some organs."

"How do you know so much about him?" Cana asked.

"I traveled with him for a while. Mainly when I was helping him recover from his injuries though. That's when he told me most of this, I probably shouldn't have pried."

"When is he going to come back?" Cana asked.

"You mean when are you going to tell him. He's still in town. Just go inside," Natsu said.

"I will, eventually. After I become S-class. Then he will accept me," Cana said.

"He'll accept you now you know. He couldn't care less about power. Just because he is the guild ace, doesn't mean he values power," Natsu said.

"I'm going to wait until I'm S-class," Cana said adamantly.

"Then I'll tell him," Natsu said before hopping off the roof and bolting inside the doors.

Cana leapt down after him, trying to catch Natsu before he blew her secret. Cana ran into the hall and saw Natsu sitting next to Gildarts. Fearing the worst, she slipped through the crowd and stopped behind the pair. Cana saw Gildarts and Natsu both turn towards her.

"So you know that I am your daughter then?" Cana asked to Gildarts quietly.

"You… You're… I have a daughter?" Gildarts said in confusion. Gildarts looked at Natsu who shrugged.

"Well… You know… Tch, actually, who cares," Gildarts said before standing up and looking over Cana.

"Are you going to leave now?"

"Why would I do that? I just figured out I have a daughter. I was just standing up, now… Let's go spend some quality time together," Gildarts said happily before lifting Cana and running out of the door, Cana holding on for dear life.

"What has she gotten herself into?" Natsu asked himself.


	5. Chapter 5

**What's up guys. I'm here for the double update. It might even be a triple. Not sure. I want to try and get this story moving along and around the same length as my other ones. Around the 20k-30k word mark by at most, next month. I think we are at a strong 7.5k. I found something interesting though. The longest piece of literature in English history isn't** ** _Men of Goodwill_** **by Jules Romains, which stands at a staggering** ** _2,070,000 words._**

 _ **That's two million, 70 thousand words.**_ **But, in actuality, the longest work is almost more than double that. It's a fanfiction, on this very site. It's called** _ **The Subspace Emissary's Worlds Conquest**_ **by AuraChannelerChris, standing at a mind-blowing number of 220 chapters and 4,061,129 words. And, it's still in progress.** _ **That's four million, sixty-one thousand, one-hundred twenty-nine words**_ **. Anyway, on with the chapter!**

Natsu waked around the guild, waiting for something to happen. What exactly was he supposed to be doing? Oh yeah, technically, he was supposed to be trying to find and save Zeref, but he kinda needed more information and stuff. Maybe a job? That sounded like fun, but he needed a bit of a stronger job. Maybe he would be able to take one of those decade quests. There were quite a few piling up. There were around ten century quests just collecting dust too. That might have been interesting, if Natsu wasn't interrupted by one Gray Fullbuster.

"Hey Natsu…" Gray said slowly, "I was wondering if you wanted to do something."

"Yeah. Most of this has been pretty boring around the guild," Natsu said.

"So you will take this job with me and Lucy then?" Gray said as he pulled a job from behind his back.

Natsu glanced at it for a second and looked up at Gray slowly. Gray started sweating ever so slightly and looked almost nervous. "Yeah, sure!"

Gray let go of the breath he wasn't aware he was holding in and grabbed Lucy. Natsu, Gray, and Lucy all left the guild, heading to wherever the job was. Natsu didn't really pay attention to what the mission was, or the rank of it either. It looked interesting enough, so why bother. All that realy mattered was that it was a good exercise. He hadn't gotten one of those in a long time.

"Gray, are we there yet?" Natsu whined.

"Shut it Flame Brain! You've been saying that for the past hour. We have at least another fifteen minutes before we have to get off the train. So, will you stop talking!" Gray yelled.

"Oh yeah Ice prick!" Natsu said as he and Gray headbutted each other.

"Where is Erza when you need her?" Lucy asked quietly, but it went unnoticed.

A few minutes later, the gang disembarked and looked for a boat to get to the island where the mission was supposed to be. It would have been easier if Natsu wasn't going around whining about more transportation. Natsu, Gray, and Lucy finally found a barge that would take them, or more like Natsu stole it from some pirates and didn't tell Gray and Lucy. Natsu let Gray and Lucy steer the ship and eventually they reached the island.

Meanwhile back at the guild, one Mirajane Straus and Erza Scarlet were racing towards the exit trying to catch up two the two dimwits and Lucy who had taken an S-class job without telling anyone. Unfortunately, Mira kinda had her old personality back which caused her and Erza to butt heads almost immediately.

Natsu and Co. had just landed on the island, except the sky wasn't blue, or black. It was more of a purple color. It was odd, but they didn't really care. Natsu and Co. walked up to the village that they saw from the shore and stopped at the front gates. A weird noise sounded form behind them and Gray whipped around, instantly creating an Ice Make: Hammer and slamming it into the bush the noise came from. Natsu lit his hand on fire so they could see.

Suddenly, a resounding smack sounded from outside of the gates. Lucy had pretty much slapped Gray into a tree for overreacting and hurting one of the villagers they were supposed to be helping.

"I'm really sorry Sir!" Lucy said frantically, "He… Yeah, actually I got nothing, He's just really stupid."

"Umm… So… What exactly do you need us to do?" Natsu asked, trying to keep the peace.

"Well, first off. I'm the chief of this village and as you can see, the moon is purple and turned us all into demons. Therefor… We need you to destroy the moon!" the man said…? Demon…? You know what, thing. Thing is all inclusive.

"You want us to destroy the moon?" Gray asked, brushing splinters out of his hair.

"Yeah, pretty much," the chief said, "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to make sure my bones weren't shattered courtesy of the stripped over there."

"I'M NOT A GOD-DAMNED STRIPPER!" Gray yelled, but it was no use. The chief was already gone.

"Calm down Popsicle. Besides, I don't think that the villagers realize they are actual demons and not humans. Not sure why they don't know. But, I think it has to do something with the four people on top of the mountain with the ruins in them," Natsu said.

"How do you know there are four people there?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah Matchstick, there's no way we could see the top of the mountain," Gray said, unknowingly slipping his shirt off.

"Gray, your shirt, and one, I can smell them from here, and two. I can literally hear their heartbeats," Natsu said.

"You can hear their heartbeats?" Lucy screamed.

"That's so creepy," Gray said.

"Yeah, I can, it's my dragon slayer magic. The stronger it is, or the more you have, the stronger your enhancements are. That's also why the stronger dragon slayers have motion sickness," Natsu explained.

While not saying anything outright, Gray took note of what Natsu was saying, "Well, since Natsu knows there are four people that shouldn't be here, we should go check them out and see what is going on."

Natsu and Lucy agreed before the three of them rushed off towards the ruins. It was more like Natsu and Gray running along and Lucy falling behind though. Everyone reached the ruins and immediately took note of giant frozen thing in the middle of the room. Natsu recognized it, since you know, he's like 400 years old and stuff, Lucy was confused, and Gray… Gray was having an aneurism.

Gray fell to the floor in shock at seeing the large hunk of ice. Natsu took note of a few strange scents coming from the passage on the other side of the room, but focused on Gray after a second.

"Gray?" Lucy asked cautiously upon seeing her friend.

"I'm assuming he is reacting to Deliora and the Iced Shell cast around him?" Natsu guessed.

"Deliora shouldn't be here! How did it get here?" Gray muttered, "Why is Ur's Iced Shell melting?"

"So he is having a panic attack, Lucy, if you could get him to sit down," Natsu said.

Lucy did so. Lucy flopped down next to Gray who lied motionless, staring blankly at the demon.

"Gray, listen. We need you to tell us what happened," Lucy said. it didn't work, so she slapped him. A good, hard slap always seemed to work for her. Just like that, Gray snapped out of his trance and started blabbering.

"That's Deliora, a demon from the books of Zeref. He destroyed my home, killed my parents, and I tried to stop him. I almost died, and forced my master, Ur Milkovich, to use the pinnacle of Ice magic, Iced Shell to stop him. Iced Shell consumes the user's soul instead of magic power. It lasts forever, or so they say," Gray said.

"Gray that's great, but we need to hide really quickly, I hear three people coming," Natsu said. Sure enough, the sounds of multiple foot steps could be heard. Natsu, Gray, and Lucy dashed behind some stalactites.

"Good. Lyon, the Moon Drip will be done shortly," a feminine voice came.

An arrogant voice followed soon after, "Finally, I will be able to prove that I have surpassed my master. I will kill this demon."

Gray growled angrily upon hearing the second person speak.

"That bastard Lyon. Arrogant as always" Gray said.

"You know him Gray?" Lucy asked.

"We were sibling students to Ur. He uses Maker magic as do I," Gray said.

Natsu, Gray, and Lucy observed the weird trio as they walked into the cavern. Upon seeing Lyon, Gray flew into a fit of rage and immediately tried to rush the group, only to be held back by Natsu. Unfortunately, Natsu couldn't grab a hold of Gray quite in time so they ended up making a bit of noise.

Lyon whipped around, and immediately threw his arm out. Out came a few dozen eagles made of pure ice. Lyon saw as his ice creations melted in mid air with not trace of heat, other than the three dimwitted mages in front of him.

"Ah Gray. The failure returns," Lyon said confidently, or arrogantly, it wasn't important.

"Lyon. What the hell are you doing? Trying to use a spell to destroy Ur's final work. She sacrificed herself for us, to save our lives. What are you going to achieve?" Gray shouted angrily.

"I'm finishing what Ur couldn't. I will kill Deliora," Lyon stated simply.

Natsu shook his head and looked around. Nothing was really happening, and it was quite boring.

"Can we hurry this up. Look Gray, I know you have a personal vendetta against Larry or whatever, but we have a mission," Natsu said.

"My names Lyon you retard!"

"Like I said, Logan isn't worth our time," Natsu said.

"It's Lyon!"

"Shut up, I wasn't talking to you. Like I was saying before Jimothy interrupted us," Natsu said before being cut off.

"THAT'S NOT EVEN CLOSE TO LYON! And what kind of name is Jimothy?" Lyon shouted.

"Shut it. you don't get to talk," Natsu said, "Come on, we got to go destroy the moon."

"Destroy the moon?" Lyon laughed, "You must be dumber than I thought."

"It's the moon drip your using that is melting Deliora's ice prison. Besides, Ur was your mentor, why are you trying to kill her?" Natsu said.

"She's already dead!" Gray and Lyon shouted.

"Do I really need to explain? You two are the ice mages," Natsu said, "Fine. Iced Shell only works if the user's soul is strong enough. It doesn't last forever, just as long as the soul that is powering it has power. Technically, the ice just replaced her body. Chances are, if you hadn't used Moon Drip, you could have saved her you know. The only thing Moon Drip does is deplete the life force in an object. So, you are killing Ur to get to Deliora. Do you not know about your own spells?"

"Ur's till alive?" Gray asked.

"Tch, not anymore. The retard standing in front of you killed her. Good job," Lucy said.

Gray, blinded by fury, rushed forward and slammed his fist into Lyon's stomach and sent him crashing to the ground. Lyon got up and shot a few Ice Make: Eagles at Gray, but he hacked them apart with his own ice blade.

Meanwhile, one Toby was trying desperately to attack Natsu with his Paralysis Claw: Mega Jellyfish.

"Excuse me, Toby was it?" Natsu said, "You have something on your face."

"I do?" Toby asked before scratching his face with his claws, electrifying him and sending him crashing to the ground.

"That was fast," Natsu said to himself. Lucy had already beaten her opponent, and it was just Gray and Lyon to go. And Deliora apparently, if the sounds of cracking and a roar were anything to go by.

"Out of my way Gray! I don't have time for a weak mage like you. I must slaughter this demon to prove myself," Lyon shouted.

Lyon rushed forward only to get bat out of the way by a massive clawed hand.

"I told him not to," Gray said. Gray looked around at his friends, and made a decision. He slammed his fist into his palm and channeled all of his magic energy to his chest, or would have, I Natsu didn't send him flying into a wall. Gray watched as Natsu rushed forward and smashed his fist into Deliora's face, sending him flying though the cave wall. Natsu looked at Deliora who got up, but started to crumble.

"See Gray, Deliora is already beaten. There is no damn reason to use Iced Shell against an already dead monster," Natsu laughed.

"But how?" Gray asked.

"Motherfucker! Do you not know anything about your magic?" Natsu screamed.

"Whatever, let's just go get our reward," Lucy said trying to preserve the peace, again.

"We still have to destroy the moon you know," Gray said.

"No we don't, just the crystal layer around the island," Natsu said.

"What crystal layer," Lucy asked.

"Moon drip always causes a purple crystal to form during its use," Natsu said.

"I told you they were demons!" Natsu said to Gray, "Pay up!"

"In your dreams Flame Brain!" Gray said, "I was the one who said that!"

Their bickering was ended by a metal clad fist and a black leather glove clad fist flying into both of their faces, metal for Gray, leather for Natsu.

"So, where do you think you two have been?" Mira asked sweetly.

"We were doing a mission," Natsu said cheerfully, oblivious as ever. Gray, not being stupid, hid behind Natsu, more than willing to let his friend be his meat shield.

"An S-Class Mission?" Mira asked.

"Yeah why?" Natsu asked suddenly confused. Then it dawned upon him, "Oh yeah. None of us are S-class yet."

"You two are coming back to the guild. As your punishment," Erza paused, "Actually, Mirajane, you can handle it this time."

Gray nearly burst into tears hearing that, but Natsu was still confused.

"Gray," Natsu whispered over his shoulder, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Run," Gray said.

"Run?"  
"…" Gray was already gone, a large dust trail flying behind him.

Natsu looked back to Mirajane who was smirking evilly. Or just smirking, it was hard to tell.

"So… Mirajane… How's it going?" Natsu asked.

"Pretty good, I just have to deal with two idiots now. Or one really. One has the sense to bolt when he had the chance.

"Really? Who are they?" Natsu asked happily.

"You and Gray," Mira facepalmed.

"Ooooohhhhhhh…" Natsu said, "So what's this punishment?"

"You'll see when you get back. Be ready at five tomorrow. Five p.m." Mirajane said.

"Why?"

"You'll see," Mira said.

Mira walked away for a bit to talk to Lucy.

"Erza, what does she mean?" Natsu asked.

"Just…" Erza said pinching her eyes, "Just be dressed nicely and show up at Mira's house at 4:50 tomorrow night."

"A date?" Natsu said. Somewhere around them, ominous music played and lighting flashed, but Natsu was oblivious as ever.


	6. Chapter 6

**What's up guys? Sorry about the update. You know how it goes with Writers block. It's annoying, and also why I have five stories running at the same time. How's it going? I hope all has been good. A few more will come out. I want to get this story's length to that of my other stories, or around it at least. You know, one of the annoying things I find are those people who review as guests and try to criticize other's works. I've seen it in others works, which in my opinion are quite good, and one of my own. Are they just chickens or do they not know? And if you don't like a story, don't criticize every chapter, just leave it. that's what I do. I see no reason to say rude things. Anyway, on with the chapter! Oh, do you guys like Blink- 182? I was listening to their songs and albums as I wrote this.**

 **IMPORTANT_**

 **Do you guys want a slow burn, or kinda go fast and messy? It's not super important which one. I just want to know so I can plan.**

 **More Important! There are some adult themes including mention of suicide and death. If you aren't up to handle it, skip it. It'll be after they finish dinner or whatever. I don't condone this in anyway, none of it. DON'T COMMIT SUICIDE DON'T HARM YOURSELF. STAY ALIVE, FOR YOURSLEF AND THOSE AROUND YOU. IN NO WAY DO I CONDONE THIS AT ALL. DON'T DO IT! IF YOU THINK ABOUT IT, TALK TO ME IF YOU WANT. Just don't do it. I'll listen, and despite the fact that we don't know each other. I'll be here to listen. Trust me.**

Natsu, Erza, Mira, and Lucy were walking back to the guild, as they were on the outskirts of Magnolia. Gray was god knows where, probably still trying to hide from Mira's punishment which he didn't know wasn't going to happen, well, not to him at least. Natsu noted a strange smell as soon as they were within a mile of Magnolia. Everything was going fine, until they reached the guildhall at least. Giant iron spikes ran the guildhall, and everything was destroyed. Someone popped their head up through the wreckage. It was Gray.

"Took you guys long enough. Apparently," Gray said before jerking his thumb back towards the guildhall, "It's been like this for at least a few days now."

"Were we gone that long?" Natsu asked cluelessly.

"Nope. Must have happened as soon as we left," Gray said.

"I agree with Gray. We didn't see this when we had left," Erza stated.

"Let's go talk to the master," Mira said.

Natsu watched as the other three walked off to talk to Makarov. He had smelled something as he had gotten near Magnolia. Natsu walked up to the metal bars and ran his hand along one. He noticed the smell intensified as he got closer.

"Dragon slayer magic," Natsu said to himself before running to follow his friends.

"We aren't going to do anything children," Makarov said.

"But they destroyed our guildhall," Gray complained.

"I agree with Gray, Master. We can't just le them walk over us like we're nothing," Mira said.

"Look. Nothing happened. Nobody was hurt, this is the end of this conversation!" Makarov yelled before downing the glass of alcohol next to him.

"Fine. Natsu, just remember what you have to do," Mira said.

"Yeah, five. I got it," Natsu said before leaving.

Natsu walked around for a bit, wondering what to do until five. He didn't really have anything to do. Natsu glanced at his clothes. He didn't really need new clothes. He could always just change these ones into whatever he needed. Natsu rushed off to do some training. Only using fire dragon slayer magic was getting boring. While it was the easiest to use, and the strongest, he felt like his others needed some work.

A few hours passed before Natsu came out of the forest. He took a quick dip into the spring next to where he was training and cleaned off. If Erza wasn't lying to him, and she never did, he needed to be presentable.

"Hmm… Human fashion. Let's see. My current clothes wouldn't be good enough. I'll just steal a jacket and pants from Gray. He never wears them anyway," Natsu said to himself before running off to where Gray lived.

Natsu arrived at Gray's house a minute or two later, as it was fairly near the forest. Natsu didn't bother knocking and strolled right in. Natsu saw an open door with a bed poking out rom a corner. Natsu slipped in, opened the dresser and grabbed a black jacket and black pants along with a red button up. Did he need a tie? Best take one even if he didn't.

Natsu threw on the clothes and ran to where Mira lived. He glanced at one of the street clocks.

"Fifteen minutes. I'll wait… five? Five more minutes before I knock," Natsu muttered before sitting down on a bench. Natsu passed the time by using his magic. He created a small ball of fire and bounced it. It left small scorch marks everywhere it bounced. Five minutes passed before Natsu knew it.

Natsu stood up and walked over to the door and knocked. A few seconds later, Natsu heard steps and the door swung open.

"Uh Erza, why are you here?" Natsu asked.

"No reason. Wait here, Mira will be down in a second," Erza said.

Natsu waited for a bit. It didn't take long. Natsu was still confused. Sixteen years away from human civilization will do that to a person. Natsu knew exactly what to do in dragon culture, just not… you know. His people's culture. The humans and mages. It was odd, he could literally go out and kill dragons, but was lost in the ways of taking someone out on a date.

The pink haired teen heard the door open and looked over. Mira stepped out and walked over to him.

"Natsu," Mira said slowly. Natsu was just the tinniest bit scared, only the smallest fraction of him, just a little, miniscule part of him was scared. Actually, that was a flat out lie, Natsu was scared out of his mind. He was supposed to do something, but what? He had to say something.

"You look nice?" Natsu asked. It was at this point that Natsu realized that he should have followed Gray's advice and written what to say on his hand.

"Thanks," Mira said, ignoring Natsu's utter confusion.

"Oh thank god, she didn't notice it," Natsu muttered Natsu quietly.

"So Natsu, where are we going?" Mira asked.

Luckily, Igneel had prepare him for that exact line, there was always a good way to solve that question. In all honesty, he had no idea where to go, but that was where Igneel's advice came in. Ask her best friend to handle the stuff. Get her to do the reservations and pick the place. So Natsu did exactly that, and asked Erza.

"You know that small place near the outside of town that has really good steak?" Natsu asked. According to Erza, Mira loved steak.

"Yeah, is that where we are going?" Mira asked with a hint of what Natsu thought was hopefulness.

"Maybe," Natsu said, "After, we're going on a walk, maybe something else if it's not too late."

The rest of dinner that day came without a hitch, **(Wish we could all say the same thing about our lives)** and after, Mira and Natsu went on their walk.

"Mira?" Natsu asked.

"Yeah?"

"When did you lose your magic?" Natsu asked slowly.

"When my sister died," Mira said.

"Lisanna right?" Natsu asked, and upon seeing Mira's face decided to drop it until a later date, "What do you plan on doing with our life?"

"I don't know anymore. Probably spend the rest of my days at the guild, continue to do jobs until something happens, or I run out of time I guess," Mira said.

"That's sad, you're biding your time until you die," Natsu said.

"Yeah? So what? It's not like anybody really cares," Mira said.

"Bullshit, there are plenty of people who care about you. Erza, Gray, Lucy, Makarov, Gildarts, Elfman, me. Lot's of people care," Natsu said, "And if you truly think that nobody cares, just end it, not your life, but your time at the guild. Leave, don't come back. If you are sure that nobody cares, leave. You'll only hurt yourself and us by staying. You know that?"

"How many of those people actually know me?" Mira asked, "If they cared, they'd get to know me."

"If you're talking about that list, it's a flat out lie to say that nobody knows you. Every one of them knows you. Maybe I don't, but I'm trying right?" Natsu said, "Come one. People do care. I care, Makarov cares, Erza cares, Elfman cares, we all care."

"Just drop it," Mira said.

"No. Your plans for the future are basically working until you die. It's basically the same as not living. You sit around, take a job, go home, go back, take a job. It doesn't help anyone, it doesn't help you, or the guild. You do nothing beneficial 'cause while you are doing the same thing, going on jobs for the guild, you only hurt the people in it. You might as well just die now. It wouldn't change anything, either way. You just hurt people, more and more. Change what you do with your life."

"Let's go back."

"Fine, but we're not done," Natsu said.

Natsu walked with Mira back to her house. After a few goodbyes, Natsu left. He headed back home, or would have, but another peculiar scent caught his attention. It was fresh, as in a few minutes fresh. Natsu slightly picked up the pace, rughing towards the direction of the scent. Natsu arrived at a small square in town, with one large tree, and three bodies strung up on it.


	7. Chapter 7

**What's up guys? It's been a while, school has been hectic. But I'm back! Some updates will be coming out. Phantom Lord part of the story so yeah. Not really sure what I'm going to do for some of it, but I have an idea. Anyway, On with the chapter**

Natsu sighed inaudibly, staring at the scene before him. Three of his guildmates, friends, hanging from a tree. Mira was… Oh yeah. He had walked her back home. The town square was completely empty, silent. Nobody was there. Natsu pulled a lacrima out of his pocket and snapped a picture using it before flaring his magic. It only took a few seconds for him to feel a second, albeit smaller flare from the guilds direction. Gildarts could only flare his magic so much before it destroyed everything in a few hundred-meter radius.

Natsu lit a small, golden flame in the center of his palm and threw it at the tree, engulfing it in flame. The flames slowly crept up the dry bark, slowly reaching the three victims hanging there. The flames burned the metal bands holding them up before crawling their way onto the three. The flames seeped into their skins, causing them to glow briefly before all of the wounds disappeared and the trio slumped to the ground. At least they weren't in critical condition any more.

A minute or two later, a small burst of crash magic roared through the street straight toward Natsu and the trio behind him. Natsu didn't spare it a glance and simply held his hand out, pulling the magic out of it and turning it into fire. Natsu swallowed the portion of fire before turning around to see Makarov, Gildarts, and most of the guild trailing behind them. Gildarts accidently let off small bursts of crash magic as he ran, disrupting the others causing them to trip over each other more often than not.

"Natsu what happened?" Makarov asked, slightly out of breath. Gildarts slipped next to Makarov as Natsu pulled out the lacrima camera and showed them the scene before he fixed it. For a good minute, nothing was said. And despite all the people now in the square, not a single thing but the rushing wind could be heard. Natsu passed the lacrima around, showing the pure savagery of the culprit. The Phantom Lord guild mark glowed brightly on their bodies in the picture, sending one clear message.

"They can destroy my guild hall, they can desecrate our land, but this has gone too far. I draw the line at harming my children," Makarov muttered, "Tomorrow, we go to war!"

The guild cheered, which was kinda out of place given what had just occurred. Natsu again, sighed inaudibly. He glanced over to Gildarts who gave him a look. Natsu knew what it meant. Natsu walked over to Gildarts and sat on a bench towards the edge of the square.

"What do we do?" Natsu asked.

"Stay back. If either of us get involved, there won't be a Phantom Lord guild any more. We both know that. Neither of us would be able to hold back really, not well enough to prevent casualties at least," Gildarts said.

"But at the same time, we both know that something will go wrong and one of us will be needed," Natsu said.

"I guess," Gildarts said.

"At the same time, I have some business to take care of with one of their members, another dragon slayer. That might make it difficult. I'm fairly certain they are the one who is responsible for it. That means I have a bone to pick with them. Plus, I might know them so it all evens out really," Natsu said.

"Then I say go for it," Gildarts laughed, "Just don't kill anyone!"

Natsu nodded at Gildarts and ran off to find Makarov, slipping through the crowd, while keeping tabs on anyone that seemed to be missing. Everyone was there. Except Mira of course, but he had walked her home not ten minutes ago. Nothing could have happened to her, right? Natsu thought about it for a second, just as Makarov came into view. Natsu slipped right by him too, dashing through the streets towards her house. Even Elfman wasn't home, given that he had been one of the first to show up to the scene.

Natsu humped from roof to roof, eventually reaching Mira's house. Natsu landed in front of Mira's house, calmly knocking, his demeanor not matching his feelings. Natsu was slightly worried when the five-minute mark passed. Natsu decided that if nothing happened in the next minute, he was going in. Of course it wasn't proper, but rules be damned. If his friend was in danger, then someone was going to get hurt. Real bad.

The minute mark passed and Natsu grew tense. He wasn't willing to give it another minute. Natsu lit a small fire in his hand and pressed it into the key hole. The door clicked open and Natsu pulled the fire out. A perfect key. Natsu walked into the house. No foreign smells were in it, that was good. At the same time, all the lights were off, and everything was still. Natsu could hear a light breathing up the stairs. Natsu slipped up the stairs, lighting a pure black flame on his hands. They were some of the only flames that didn't glow. It was more like the sucked the very light out of the room. If it was dark before, it was pitch black now.

Natsu opened the door and found Mira lying on her bed. She seemed fine enough. Natsu felt kinda like an idiot, but at least he checked. Natsu was about to leave when a scent caught his attention. They were faint, nearly odorless, but his senses didn't let anything by. Natsu smelled it coming from the drawer next to the bed. Natsu recognized the smell. Natsu felt around the drawer and felt nothing. He slipped his hands against the edges of the of the bottom of the drawer. He felt a small nick in the wood, just wide enough for a finger. Natsu pulled out the wood and found a secret compartment under the regular part.

Pills. Not the good kind. Not even sleeping pills. Those weren't good either, but these were so much worse. Natsu pulled the bottle out and slipped the wood back into place. He knew he shouldn't be snooping but these would kill her if she took even a milligram to much. Perfectly full bottle too, which meant they were new, or she had never used them. It was better if she didn't have them. Natsu shut the drawer and slipped out, closing the door behind him.

Natsu rushed off to find Makarov who was probably still at the scene. Now he had two things to talk about. Natsu found Makarov, taking to some of the guild members. Natsu moved through the crowd, before ending up in front of Makarov. He wasn't quite done with the others. Natsu waited patiently for a bit before Makarov finished.

"Can we talk?" Natsu asked.

"Yeah," Makarov said.

"I think it was a dragon slayer," Natsu said, "Smells exactly like it, looks like it, feels like it, everything matches. If I had to say, it was most likely Metalicana's kid. Always headstrong and arrogant. Figured that he might have changed but I guess not."

"What do you plan to do?" Makarov asked.

"You are launching that attack of yours tomorrow, aren't you?" Natsu asked, Makarov nodded, "Well I'll trail along and follow up anything. If anything happens I'll step in, but if I am right about the dragon slayer, I'm heading in. IS that good?"

"I believe so, just don't do anything stupid," Makarov said, "we aren't here to kill anyone."

"I know. I'll be there in the morning," Natsu said, walking away.

The next morning, Natsu slipped out of his little area and walked over to the guild. Everyone was preparing for it. In an hour, everyone was outside the Phantom Lord Guild hall, or one of them at least. They were one of the few that had several. Natsu watched as everyone lined up, drawing weapons or preparing their magic. Natsu smelled the dragon slayer scent all over the guild hall. It had been decided that Natsu would be the first in and the others would follow.

Natsu took a few steps towards the door before stopping in front of it. Natsu hauled back his fist and slammed it into the door. The giant iron door easily flew off it's hinges, ripping stones out of the wall as it went, before stopping, imbedding itself into the wall on the other side of the hall. As soon as Natsu punched the door, everyone rushed in, causing mayhem all the way. Sounds of metal echoed through the air. Makarov himself walked calmly through the carnage and fighting, heading straight up to the stairs where he would find the guild master.

Natsu walked behind him after a few seconds, silently trailing Makarov. He was going to find that damned slayer and beat the shit out of him. Natsu smelled the scent coming from a different area than where Makarov was, so Natsu walked that way. He walked up the stairs but stopped at a different floor than Makarov who kept walking up. Natsu opened the door and almost immediately got a giant blast of fire shot at him with steel spikes following shortly after. Natsu felt the floor rumble ever so slightly and stepped to the side, avoiding the figure that came flying out of it.

Natsu walked through the fireball and the metal spikes melted as soon as they got within a foot of him. Natsu stopped in front of the two figures who were standing arrogantly before ducking under the punch from the third figure. Natsu grabbed the figures wrist and casually threw him over to the other two. The other two moved out of the way and the third slammed into the wall.

Natsu could see a younger man with long, black and white hair tied up on the back of his head, a portion of black hair overlaying the front and left side of his head, leaving the smaller white portion concentrated on the left. He sported a simple marking consisting of three horizontal black bars passing across the ridge of his nose and both cheeks in a linear formation, with the one in the middle being the longest.

The second figure was a tall and muscular young man with long, spiky black hair. He had red eyes with slitted dark pupils. Most of his exposed body was covered in sets of round metal studs. The third man had weird green hair and a monocle with a small green mustache.

"Aren't you supposed to be S-Class mages?" Natsu asked rhetorically. Although they displayed considerable skill, it was much easier to fight someone when they were riled up.

"Not good enough for you?" the first man spoke, "Fine then."

Natsu didn't bat an eye and caught the blade coming for his head. He held the blade for a second before squeezing, metal shards flying as he did so. In another second, the first man was gone.

"If you could leave please? I want to have a conversation with somebody. You know, one on one?" Natsu said.

"Non non non. Are you crazy? Why would you think Totomaru-sama, Gajeel-sama, or I, Monsieur Sol, would just leave?" the green mustached man asked.

"Leave," the final man in the back said, "I want to have a conversation as well."

"Gajeel? Are you sure?" the man apparently named Totomaru asked.

"Leave, I want to have this conversation."

"Non non non, I simply refuse to leave you here Gajeel-sama," Sol said.

Natsu disappeared and was back a second later. A crashing sound could be heard a few floors down and some dust was in the air. Sol was gone, sent right through the floor. Totomaru left on his own like a smart man, not wanting to get beaten like his comrade.

"Metalicana's kid, huh?" Natsu said after a few seconds, "Figured he would have raised you better."

"What would you know about it? You reek by the way, reek of blood and death," Gajeel said.

"I'm quite aware. We both know you can't wash off scents like that. Why'd you attack them?" Natsu asked.

"Why should I answer you? You're probably some weak, incompetent mage with a flashy trick. One trick pony in other words, so what is it? What's your element?" Gajeel asked.

"That's no way to greet a comrade now is it? Accuse them of something like that. It's not true of course, we both know it. You even pointed it out yourself. Use that nose of yours, surely Metalicana must have taught you something. Reach back into your mind, you've smelled this before. All the slayers have," Natsu said nonchalantly.

Gajeel noticeably paused for a minute before shaking his head. Natsu gestured in a way that meant to keep going, and so he did. Gajeel stood there for a few more seconds before nearly falling down and scrambling away.

"You're his child?" Gajeel accused, still backing up ever so slightly. Natsu took note of the slight metal sheen coming from his hands, while not full metal, they were getting there. It was a good trick actually. He was trying to take advantage of a person's inattention blindness, where they wouldn't notice it because they weren't focusing on it and it was small enough not to be noticed. Natsu wasn't exactly normal, he had heard his heart beat race and his muscles tighten ever so slightly. It was part of being a metal slayer.

Natsu laughed boisterously, "No! Of course not! That sounds absolutely horrible. I've met him sure, plenty of times but I still hate him. Talked to him a bit sure, but never more than idle conversation as we fought or banter."

"I'm sorry, fought?" Gajeel asked before laughing, "Impossible, nobody has fought him and come out alive. Not even dragons could! To think that a puny slayer could just attack him and come out in one piece, let alone a live is impossible! Metalicana couldn't beat him, your dragon probably couldn't either. Nobody could!"

"Your nose isn't lying to you, and Metalicana has nothing on some of the dragons I've seen. Try Igneel why don't you? Fire Dragon King. Yeah, that's my dad," Natsu said happily, "Now what do you say? Plus I've had many extra years of training compared to you due to an… issue."

"Igneel, the fire dragon king?" Gajeel asked.

"No, Igneel the water god. YES, Igneel the fire dragon!" Natsu shouted.

"Even still, there's no way to beat him. And extra training? What issue?" Gajeel asked.

"Not important, we're off topic. I have a proposition for you. Join my guild, and I'll explain the true nature of our magic. And where you dragon went."

Gajeel laughed boisterously, "That's such bullshit, nobody knows where they went. They up and abandoned us."

"Suit yourself. I'm leaving, and I suggest you do too," Natsu said before hopping down the hole left by the green haired guy, Sol was it? Natsu walked out the stairs before realizing that Makarov was still in the guild hall. Natsu leapt from level to level, until he finally reached the top. It wasn't long before he saw Makarov struggling to stand and a weird purple haired guy talking to him. A second man in the corner stood there. He had bandages over his eyes and stood nearly twice as tall as the other two men.

Natsu slipped in and picked up Makarov before looking over to the other two men. Natsu then hopped off the edge and landed hitting the ground, throwing up a small cloud of dust. Natsu saw most of the other members of the guild running back before he spotted a mop of read hair and a glint of metal still in the guild. Natsu handed Makarov off to one of the guild members and rushed back into the guild. Natsu strolled back into the guild and punched a few enemies away before walking over to Erza and telling her about Makarov.

She was gone a few seconds later leaving Natsu alone in the now quiet guild.


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey what's up guys? Sorry for not really updating, but eh, I've been in Iceland for a while. So yeah, that was fun, I took a few days to really think out my story, and I most certainly know where I want to go with it, but my real question, where do you guys want me to go? What do you want to see? What do you want to read in this story? Of course, if prefer if it were in reason and if possible, you had a way to incorporate it into the story. I've already had people ask and those ideas are getting put in, because they were just too good not to put in. But yeah, and ideas? On with the chapter!**

Natsu slipped back into the guild, taking in what everyone was doing. The mood was rather subdued, and a few members were absent. Natsu walked up to the sick bay and opened the door to find several of the missing members surrounding the body of Makarov. A new, older woman with pink hair stood over him. Natsu could hear a faint heartbeat from him, but it was fading. All of the magic in the master's body was gone, completely drained.

"I said leave! None of you are doing any good, you can't help him! And you reek of human, I can't focus. Leave!" The pink haired woman shouted at the surrounding group.

Natsu noticed Erza standing in the back, a wooden bed frame cracking as she gripped it. Natsu stepped forward and the surrounding mages made a gap for him. Natsu walked right up to the dying master, or he would have if the pink lady didn't try to hit him. Natsu caught the hand and spoke calmly, "We both know his magic container is empty, we both know that the medicine in your coat won't do too much, and that you don't have the magic to do it yourself. That medicine you have is to help gaining magic, it won't do anything. Let me do the work, give him the medicine so he doesn't die, but let me handle the rest."

The woman glared at him before sighing in resignation. She gave the medicine to the master and stood back, gesturing for Natsu to continue. Natsu stepped up to the bed and placed two fingers on Makarov's forehead, lightly pressing into it. Natsu channeled a sliver of his magic energy and it flowed into Makarov in the form of wispy, golden flames. The bystanders could see as the basic worked its way through the body. Natsu watched carefully as the golden flames seeped into the skin, slowly traveling through his veins and arteries and capillaries, crawling towards the heart. After a moment's pause at the heart, it continued, past the last rib.

It sank in, the golden magic and color fading for a moment, before shining brightly and vanishing. The magic was gone a few seconds later, no traces left. The older man visibly calmed and stopped shaking before color began returning to his skin. After a minute, he bolted up, sweating profusely. Natsu held his hand out for a moment, a light blue flame travelling from his finger.

One of the unfortunate effects of the golden flames being internalized in a non-fire master was that it heated up the body, bringing it far past the normal, healthy temperature. If an inexperienced fire user used the golden flames without a way of cooling the body, the person who they tried to heal would explode. The body couldn't handle that kind of heat. **(Hi guys, quick note, this is backed up by actual science. If the body gets too hot, the skin won't be able to lose that heat fast enough and after a bit, it could explode)**

Natsu let the blue flames wash over the now healthy master. The effects were immediate. Makarov's body cooled, cancelling out the heat before the flames disappeared.

"Welcome back, Master. Good to have you back," Erza said, walking up.

"Good to be back, Child. The important part though, what happened to the guild master and guild after I went down?"

Natsu answered this one, "I had my talk, as I told you I would. After, I went up to the top floor and saw you lying on the ground, with two men standing near you. One I assumed was Jose Porla, and the other I do not know. Your magic container was emptied almost completely. I grabbed you and took you back. The rest of the guild retreated when they saw you, and their guild is in ruins at the moment."

"What happened to you Master?" Erza asked.

"Jose couldn't beat me on his own, so he had one of his Element 4 sneak up behind me and drain my magic," Makarov said, "What exactly was it that healed me?"

Natsu again responded, "Well, the pink haired grumpy lady was trying to help so she gave you medicine that would prevent your body from dying because of rapid magic intake, and I supplied a sliver of my magic because it is quite… potent, and it healed your body and filled your magic container. The blue flames were to cool you."

The pink lady stepped up again, "Alright humans, get out. He won't be any better with all of you crowning him like this. Leave."

All attending members reluctantly shuffled to the door before stepping out of the guild hall to do their own things. Natsu decided he was going to go out and chill somewhere for a bit. He also needed to make a call. Natsu walked out into the forest, stopping after a few miles. Natsu channeled a little bit of magic into his hand before thinking of Igneel. After a second, a makeshift screen of fire was created with Igneel standing in a cave with a second dragon, Atlas Flame Natsu thought it was.

"Hey Dad, can we talk for a moment?" Natsu asked.

"You know you're not supposed to have any contact with us, but you also know I don't care about the rules. What do you need Kid?" Igneel laughed.

"Well, you know that… thing you told me about? Yeah it started, or I think so at least," Natsu said.

"Did it now? You're a bit young don't ya think? You cannot control it of course though, so there is no getting around it," Igneel said before pausing, "One or multiple? We both know that most are against multiple, even if it is the king, queen, princess, or prince. And what do you want?"

Natsu sighed for a moment, his eyes flashing red for a moment, "Multiple. I don't want this. I only want the one, it's unfair for everyone. I'm fighting it sure, but I won't be able to forever. I think I have a few months, maybe a year at most."

Igneel looked around before responding, "You're getting around the age where you need to pick more fights with other dragons. You'll probably go out of your way to. Even if you already have beaten more then you can count, the dragon in you will want you to keep fighting and rise to the top. Pick more fights, that might control it a bit more. It won't be a permanent fix, but it'll stave it off for at least a little bit."

"Alright Dad, well I'll try. I gotta go," Natsu said upon feeling a large magic power near the guild, "I'll see if I can find a way to control it."

Natsu whipped his hand upwards and the small screen disappeared. Natsu ran back to the guild to see a giant clunking, and motile guild hall aiming one giant ass canon at the small group of mages around the guildhall.

Natsu saw the cannon charge up and saw two particular mages standing in front of it, one with red flowing hair and one with stark white hair in a pony tail. Natsu thought the second one looked quite nice with her hair right that.

"Shut up," Natsu said to himself, more so to the demon inside him though. Natsu walked forward and waited for a moment before the afore mentioned canon shot a piercing beam of magic energy right at the group of mages. Erza slammed two giant gauntlets with large shields- which were a good bit larger than herself- and a giant green magic circle appeared. Mira had put her hand on Erza's shoulder and was focusing magic into her, making the green barrier grow larger.

Natsu waited until the beam fired and dashed in front of it, placing one arm in front of him and holding his palm open, said body part open and facing the blast. Natsu felt the beam hit the center of his palm but his natural magic aura and a bit of crash magic stopped it in its tracks, halting all progress it had made.

After a good minute, the beam finally stopped and Natsu hadn't moved an inch. The rest of the guild stared in shock, it would have taken at least two normal S-class mages to stop it, even more if they didn't want to be completely out of magic energy, and yet there stood one 20-year-old kid had just casually held his hand out and stopped it.

Erza and Mira had long since dropped the shield before one of the gauntlets came flying at him, then it's twin sibling followed it and they both slammed into the dragon slayer.

"YOU IDIOT! What were you thinking?" Mira yelled. She had taken both of Erza's gauntlets and thrown them at him, which ironically caused more damage than the giant beam of concentrated magic.

"Calm down, that thing couldn't do anything anyway. Like honestly my magic can be more potent that entire shot and that is only for a simple roar," Natsu laughed as if he hadn't just pulled off something that only a few wizard saints and less that a handful of mages could do.

" **Alright you little brats, if you will kindly stay still for the next… Let's see, what? The time you idiot, no not for the… NEVERMIND, I'll do it myself** ," A voice came from the guild, taking a second before coughing and resuming, " **Ah yes, if you'll stay there for the next five minutes and wait for this lovely Jupiter cannon to recharge so I can send you all to your doom, that'd be great. Goodbye!** "

"For trying to kill several dozen people, he seems pretty cheerful, doesn't he?" Mira asked rhetorically.

"Give me a second to take care of that little peashooter of his, then you guys can rush the thing or whatever you feel like, right?" Natsu asked as he turned towards the canon. Natsu took a breath before spewing out a thin stream of flames. The flames, unlike a normal ranged fire attack stayed in a thin concentrated line. Most others would have fanned out slowed and spread by the air and wind, but not these flames. The flames traveled, 100 feet, still going, 200 feet, hadn't fanned out, 300 feet, already melting the metal that was dozens of feet away. 500 feet, through the guild hall and canon like a hot knife through butter, and yet it kept traveling. Natsu cut the magic flow and it finally started to flow out.

Molten metal dripped from the canon and the red hot, gaping hole in the hall didn't help either. At once, several of the mages ran towards the guild hall, jumping in and attacking whoever was in sight. It didn't take long for Natsu to notice the growing magic powers and a metal beam shoot through the hole. If Gajeel wasn't going to listen, then so be it. Natsu tried to stop him, but it couldn't be helped now. Natsu jumped into the robotic guild hall as well, catching a giant metal beam that was shot at several of the members. The broke into small cubes and bounced around.

"Look who showed up! Now I might as well show you up flame freak," Gajeel laughed, his arm turning into a large sword. Gajeel lunged at Natsu who sidestepped the attack and let Gajeel rush past him. Gajeel had been expecting something and threw his arm back, the blade extending ever so slightly. It brushed Natsu's chest but didn't do any damage, despite being razor sharp.

"Cut it out would ya?" Natsu asked agitatedly.

Gajeel responded by simply sending a volley of spears at the fire dragon slayer who ducked under it and then tucked his body into a roll to avoid Gajeel who had jumped into the air and was trying to bring his fist down. Natsu and Gajeel kept playing the game of cat and mouse until Natsu got bored. He let Gajeel hit him before slamming his fist into his gut.

Gajeel curled over and Natsu brought his knee up, letting the metal dragon slayers head slam into it. Natsu launched him into the air and jumped after him, before smashing his fist into the other dragon slayers face, sending Gajeel flying into the wall. Gajeel took a few seconds to pull himself out of the hole that had been created by his body.

"Not bad, but I'm not done yet," Gajeel growled as he picked up a piece of metal from the floor and shoved it into his mouth. The effects were immediate as his skin started to turn gray and resemble metal scales that covered his body. He slowly glowed a bit green as well, which Natsu thought was a bit odd, but pain no attention to it.

"Get ready because here I come," Gajeel laughed. Natsu was getting bored so decided to end it quick. Gajeel rushed Natsu and tried to catch him with a right hook but Natsu tilted his body to the left and nailed him with a left straight in a show of speed and power. Gajeel was defenseless as the attack came and got hit, which sent him flying into a wall, unconscious.

Natsu always was rather strong, even without magic. Natsu went over to the only remaining spike of magic power. Natsu walked into the room and saw Mira and Elfman, both with large burns. There was that fire guy too, what was his name Natsu wondered. Was it Totem? He felt like it was totem.

"Hey Totem!" Natsu said, "What did you do to my friends?"

"Totomaru, and they fought me. Must say, the pretty one put up a good fight until her… is that her brother?" he said, Natsu nodded, "Yeah until her brother showed up at the wrong time. She took several hits because of him. What a shame, I was kinda hoping not to hurt her too much, we could have had fun."

Natsu didn't say anything, and he really didn't need to. The sudden pressure that Totomaru felt was enough to pin him to the floor. A golden flame seeped from Natsu's body and shot over to Mira and Elfman, healing the burns and wounds.

"Yo- you- You're a f-fire mage," Totomaru struggled, still under the affects of the magical pressure.

"Damn right, the best in Fiore," Natsu growled.

"Not true, that title belongs to me, I'll show you the ultimate fire magic," he said. Natsu dropped the pressure and let him stand; he was going to enjoy beating the shit out of him. Totomaru stood up and growled before lighting his hands on fire and conjuring a fireball full of different colors.

"BEHOLD! The rainbow fire! The ultimate fire and the one that every other flame stems from!" Totomaru said launching it at Natsu. Natsu stood there for a second and stepped out of the way only for the magic to stop in its tracks and shoot right at him again.

"Paired with my Fire Kinesis, I'm unstoppable!" Totomaru laughed.

Natsu stayed silent for a moment before opening his mouth and devouring the flames. They weren't… bad tasting, just kinda… okay? was that the word. Natsu swiped his arm against his mouth and laughed, "Oh that's cute. You really think the rainbow fire is the ultimate flame? You're wrong. I'll show you the original flames."

Natsu held his hand out and a pure, snowy white flame burst to life in his palm. He tossed it around for a second, before tossing it to Totomaru who tried to control it, only for it to explode in his face.

"Nice try, it'll only obey a proper fire user. You obviously are not one," Natsu laughed. Totomaru picked himself up and dashed forward, trying to attack Natsu with his flames. Natsu slipped one leg back and set himself in a light stance. As soon as he was five feet away, Natsu leapt forward and brought his knee up, nailing Totomaru in the gut. Natsu raced after and grabbed him out of the air, slamming him into the ground. Blood dripped from Totomaru's mouth as he pulled himself up, barely.

Natsu turned around and walked away to go check on the two Strauss siblings. Totomaru struggled to pull himself up but eventually managed. As soon as he did so, he formed a small ball of fire in his hand and threw it at Natsu. The moment it left his hand, the ball stopped.

"Nice try. Weren't you listening," Natsu growled before holding his hand out. The ball of flames flew toward him and he caught it, compressing it into a small ball. Natsu turned around to look at the siblings who were completely healed and tossed the ball over his shoulder. It exploded a moment after, sending Totomaru into another room, unconscious.

Natsu grabbed Mira and Elfman before jumping out of the hole in the wall. Natsu landed lightly, using a little bit of magic to lighten the fall as to not jostle his "passengers" too much. Natsu handed them both off to members of the guild who had stayed on the ground, chiefly Cana and Alzack. Natsu the jumped up the guild hall and up to the top floor. Apparently, their master had been completely untouched.

Natsu punched a hole into the wall and walked through. He saw the purple haired man sitting on the ground, apparently waiting. Natsu walked up to him and plopped himself down right in front of him, sitting with his legs crossed.

"So…" Natsu started, "Why'd you attack our guild?"

"Isn't it obvious? To prove that we're the number one guild in Fiore," he said nonchalantly.

"That's dumb," You were literally about to just murder a group of at least twenty people. There are plenty of ways to prove it and not kill people," Natsu said.

"Bah! Nonsense, people only respect true power. The power to make people cower and hide. And to do that, you must kill someone," he said.

"So it's completely reasonable to kill someone in the name of power then?" Natsu asked, trying to set Jose up.

"Didn't you hear what I just said?" Jose asked annoyed.

"Of course I did, I just wanted that out there. Any who… I was thinking, I wanna a display of power," Natsu said.

"You're more than welcome to join our guild then? You single handedly took down Gajeel, Totomaru, and disarmed our canon with one move," he said, "Power like yours would be respected. Everyone would fear you, nobody would dare do anything to you."

"Ah but where's the fun in that? I was thinking we fight to the death, you know, causes it's perfectly fine," Natsu said, yawning, "I mean what better way to show true power than to kill a wizard saint, right?"

"That's… I did say that. You got guts kid, I'll give you that. Not many new mages will go and challenge a freaking wizard saint for their first real battle, so why not? You interest me quite a bit," Jose said.

"Sorry man, you're a bit… old. And I don't swing that way," Natsu said.

"For that little comment, I'll be sure to make your death long and painful, though back in the day, I would have done the same I suppose," Jose said. Jose assumed a light stance and Natsu stood there, waiting. Jose was smart, he hadn't rushed in at the first notice.

Natsu started it off, moving forward towards the saint. Jose stayed there, so Natsu decided he was going to make the first move. Natsu whipped forward, putting his weight into the front of his body and extending his arm, trying to send Jose flying. Jose wasn't a saint for nothing though and slipped down under Natsu, trying to perform a right uppercut but Natsu simply planted his leading foot and flipped over the attack, spinning in the air so he would be facing his opponent.

Jose stood up before darting forward and sending a right straight strait for Natsu's gut. Natsu stood there and let himself beat hit before headbutting the saint. Natsu tried to move but for a second couldn't. It only took him a second to be off, once again at the saint's throat.

"I put a magic circle on you though," Jose said before being launched. He flipped his body and landed on his feet and skidding.

"Oh, is that what it was? Natsu asked, looking down at his stomach, a faint purple circle glowing away. Natsu took a second and looked at it, ducking under the small burst of magic that Jose had sent at him. Natsu tapped the circle once and it faded.

Natsu looked up and threw himself to the floor to avoid the giant purple tornado headed straight for him. Natsu saw that Jose's eyes had turned from their normal dots to a dark shade of gray.

"Shade: Jellyfish!' he shouted, a large ethereal purple jellyfish appearing around him. He lashed out using tow of the long tentacles gifted to him by the form. Natsu ducked and dodged around them, but two more of the tentacles formed and began to attack him. Natsu raced to the back of the room, still avoiding the tentacles. Natsu leapt onto the wall before using it as a springboard and leaping to the ceiling.

Jose was getting a bit tired off all the dodging and dropped the jellyfish form. He whipped his right arm out and several ghosts appeared, circling around him. He shaped them into various forms before sending them at Natsu. Natsu let them come and they simply melted in front of him, not being able to reach them. Natsu got bored and held out his left hand and racing forward.

He held out his hand and a small blade of fire formed around his hand. Natsu slashed it forward and the shades dissolved, seemingly absorbed into the blade. Natsu leapt past the new reforming shades and flipped himself, planting his feet into Jose's chest. Jose, quick as ever, whipped out a small dagger and tried to stab it into Natsu's ankles, which would immobilize him. Only it didn't work because dragon slayers have reinforced skin and bones and things like that.

The blade shattered, leaving a slightly annoyed dragon slayer. Natsu whipped forward, tucking his body into a roll and dodging past Jose. Jose responded by throwing a kick right at where Natsu would be. Natsu kept his body slightly curled and let himself keep going, waiting for a second. As soon as Natsu had his back to the floor, he extended both of his legs and planted them right into Jose's legs, sending the saint off balance.

Natsu took the few seconds he had to stand up and once again rushed forward and slam his fist into Jose who was still slightly off balance. Jose was a bit smarter this time and bent back before kicking up his legs and hitting Natsu. Jose put as much magic as his legs could handle as to blast Natsu away.

Natsu got pushed up into the air and flipped, landing on his feet, but Jose had gotten right back up and dashed towards Natsu, using his Shade: Dead wave to send a beam of shade magic at Natsu. Natsu got knocked back a bit, getting knock off balance which was what Jose needed. Natsu back pedaled for a second before letting himself drop to the ground. He landed on his back right as Jose threw a punch which flew over Natsu. Natsu curled his lower body up and planted his hands into the floor behind him.

He pushed himself up and slammed his legs into Jose. Natsu was getting a bit bored. Natsu figured it was better to end it fast, so he did. Natsu raced towards Jose and disappeared right as he got in front of Jose. Natsu reappeared behind him and slammed his fist down into Jose's back. Natsu's feet touched the ground and he was oof again, appearing under the airborne saint. Natsu kicked both of his legs up and sent him flying again.

Natsu kept bashing him around before he finally started go out the window. Natsu rushed out, leaping out of the hole above Jose. Jose briefly registered Natsu bringing his legs down in an axe kick, sending him down into the ocean below. Natsu used the kick as a spring board and propelled himself back into the guild.

Natsu let Jose hit the ocean, a loud splash and a few cracking and snapping sounds ensued. He was done now. Natsu made his way down to the rest of the guild.

"Okay guys, so we're done, right?" Natsu asked. Everyone collectively nodded and headed back into the guild doing whatever, waiting for the council to arrive and set things right with Phantom Lord.


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey Guys, what's up? Thank you for the feedback guys! I appreciate it a lot. I got a few suggestions and I agree with the fair part of them. 25NaMi, special thanks to you, you're awesome. Anyway, a few also pointed out that I totally killed Jose. Yeah, I did. I mean, to be fair, what Makarov does in canon wasn't much better. I would rather die like he did in this than be left as basically a husk. Anyway, on with that chapter!**

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Natsu walked into the guild from the forest. It had been two days since Phantom Lord had attacked, one since the giant motile mech hall had been removed and the council had yet to send any form of messenger. Natsu walked to the construction that would soon be the guild hall, only to find Makarov talking to a green frog thing. Natsu made out part of the conversation, something about wizard saints but decided not to eavesdrop in case it was something important.

Natsu walked over to the piles of wood and metal and got to helping around the guild. He had immense physical capabilities, so why not? It was about an hour before anything happened. Natsu was walking around the guild, having gotten as much done as he could. He wasn't exactly an expert in construction, so after a bit, he would have become more a burden than anything.

Natsu hopped down from a little ledge he had made and walked over to where the bar would be. Makarov and the frog thing walked up to him as soon as they finished talking.

"Natsu Dragneel, you are wanted for a council session. You and Makarov Dreyar as well as one S-class chaperon will accompany you to the council buildings in Crocus," the frog croaked out, "You will be provided with room and board until the Council has come to a decision."

"Can I refuse?" Natsu asked, the frog stared at him incredulously.

"Natsu, you haven't been here for long, but a summons from the Council cannot be ignored, it must be adhered to no matter what. You will be determined a rogue mage if you do not," Makarov said.

"Oh, can I at least choose who I want to go with me?" Natsu asked.

"I suppose so, if your master allows it," the frog said. Natsu looked at Makarov who nodded.

"Mirajane Stauss," Natsu said. Makarov chuckled.

"Notify the mage and appear before the council in two days," the frog said before hopping off.

Makarov said he would handle Mira and meet Natsu in the train station a few hours later. Natsu walked off and did whatever. They boarded the train and talked for a bit. Natsu and co arrived in Crocus the day of the meeting, so they let immediately.

A platoon of rune nights escorted them, and they entered the large chambers of the council building and waited for it to start. Natsu looked at the room, taking in the giant ceilings, raised council seats and the area they were sitting in. Natsu noted the elevated seats, seeing the council had some brains, trying to make the people in positions of power seem like just that. Powerful.

It was a few minutes before everyone had found their seats and Natsu had gotten a feel for most of the people there. Natsu had felt the poorly concealed magic power of one or two individuals, the second of which dwarfing everyone else in the room. Natsu looked over to Mira, who despite being insanely powerful, was struggling a little bit. Correction, lot bit. Natsu tapped her hand for a second to get her attention.

"Hey, calm down, it's all good," Natsu said to Mira who gulped before relaxing a bit.

"Okay, we got this. We could take them, yeah?" she asked jokingly, trying to cover up how uncomfortable and scared she was.

"Of course," Natsu said.

"Council session will now commence," a booming voice came from the center of the room. Makarov leaned over subtly and whispered a name, Gran Doma. He must have been the one talking.

"Natsu Dragneel, please stand," the voice, now identified as Gran Doma, spoke, "Most of you are unaware of why this session has been called at such notice."

A few murmurs spread through the room. One or two people had noted the absence of Jose Porla at the beginning of the session. The murmurs got louder as a few people pointed it out. Eventually, there was a dull roar.

"SILENCE!" Gran Doma, the chairman, yelled, "As most of you have now noticed, Jose Porla is no longer with us, both in attendance and in the realm of the living. It was brought to our attention that he has been killed by a mage. Drowned, was it, Mr. Dragneel?"

"Yeah," Natsu said from his chair. A few members of the council were angry at the so-called show of insolence to both the council and a wizard saint.

"Quiet, all of you! It was also brought to our attention that he was trying to destroy one guild, and kill the people in it, chiefly Wizard Saint, Makarov Dreyar. It was only with the intervention of Natsu Dragneel here that he is still with us."

Again, the murmurs started up and became more of a yell this time. There were shouts of good riddance, and shouts that he should have destroyed Fairy Tail. None however said anything about the murder of Makarov or the other people. Maybe they weren't bad people at heart.

"Silence, no more words from anyone, unless called on," Doma said annoyed, "Because of this fact, and also that we are down one saint, I think it would be fair to instate Natsu Dragneel as the new tenth wizard saint.

"I agree, on one condition of course," a man said in the back. He had medium-length, wavy and spiked orange hair, a scar over his nose, and wore white, black, and red robes, "I must say he does seem quite weak in comparison to the last saint we let in. I think that we should at least have a test of strength, something to prove that he is saint material."

"I thought I told everyone to be silent, you are no exception God Serena, though you make a big point. Other than defeating the weakest wizard saint, we have nothing on how strong you actually are Mr. Dragneel. A test of strength then a vote shall be mandatory if we are to instate you as the newest Wizard Saint. All in favor?" Gran Doma asked. The decision was unanimous.

"A test of magic power, perhaps?" one of the other saints asked.

"Agreed, magic power should be enough to determine how strong he is. Do we have a Magic Power Finder on hand?"

"We don't need one," God Serena said, "The ten, currently nine Wizard Saints should be enough. After all, we're the ones who get to decide if he is in at the end, I say you let us compare his to ours. If he can match one of us, then he's in. If he can match the destructive power or simply power of one saint, he's in."

The other council members looked around. Eventually they turned their eyes to Gran Doma. He didn't say anything, so they turned to the other Wizard saints. Nobody said anything.

"God Serena's plan it is then," Gran Doma spoke, "We will take this test outside, it is too stifling in this room for such a test."

Upon arriving outside, everyone stared at Natsu, waiting. Natsu thought for a second, it wasn't going to hurt, plus he needed a word with God Serena. Issue was that he only seemed to respect power and having the title of the strongest mage in the country wasn't exactly helping either.

"How long is this gonna last? And which saint do I have to beat?" Natsu asked.

"Any of them you can, Kid," God Serena said, "If one saint will step up and volunteer?"

Nobody really moved so Natsu stood around awkwardly. Finally, the last wizard saint stepped up, supposedly the one who was last.

Natsu groaned seeing the cocky look on the tenth, now ninth saint's face. If Natsu wasn't mistaken, and he rarely was, he was about twenty-five and seemed quite overconfident. Natsu stepped into the ring, casually stepping through the barrier that separated the battlefield from everything else. That way, nothing would be destroyed, hopefully. Natsu watched the other man step into the ring and looking over to the chairman. With the ring of a silver bell, they were off. Nobody moved.

Natsu looked at his opponent who stared boredly at the salmon headed Slayer. Natsu realized he'd have to make the first move as it was his test. Natsu slowly started walking, quickly igniting his fists. Natsu used his magic and pushed himself through the air, far more slowly than he could even if he was running. The other man still stood there, running his hand through his blond hair. Natsu closed the gap, rushing forward and sending a quick straight towards his face. Natsu got a good look at him, his opponents face unwavering. Natsu's fist hit the wall behind the man as his opponent was suddenly on the other side of the field.

Teleporting Natsu figured. Couldn't have been speed because there would be a trace of it with done wind or dust. Natsu quickly spun and surveyed the land around him. Nothing of note, the ninth was standing in the other side of the field still standing boredly. Natsu groaned. One of these people, trying to out maneuver him using speed or quick travel. Of course, Natsu couldn't really show the true power to anyone otherwise he would have been made first already. Natsu stood still, taking in information. How would he do this without appearing too much stronger? Natsu chuckled to himself before taking off, quite literally.

He was closer to a rocket than human to the human eye. The man barely had time to react as Natsu all but appeared in front of him and swung his foot with his body as the center of the kick. The man had just barely brought his hands to to form a sloppy guard. The ninth was sent into the ground, his body folding like a twig with him up to his knees in the ground. The ground cracked underneath him but he managed to stand back up, stepping back out of the small hole he was in. Natsu pushed off of his forearms and flipped back. Natsu mentally noted that his arms were blackened.

So he had body magic? Okay, that would make the harder. Natsu grinned before tossing his head back and roaring. Natsu looked at his opponent who suddenly disappeared only to reappear in front it Natsu. Natsu quickly backpedaled, twisting his body back. Natsu almost had his back against the floor as he dodged. Natsu felt cold steel drag across his skin. He felt it brush against his chin as the slice appeared to move from his face to chest and legs. Natsu planted his hands into the ground and pushed up, angling his feet and legs to push the ninth off of him. Natsu sent him flying up into the ceiling. He grinned before feeling a punch hit him square in the face. Natsu let himself to flying, as his body snapped backwards like a switchblade.

The Ninth immediately started to stand still, straightening his body as he watched Natsu. Natsu waited, letting himself continue to fly back, though his momentum was coming to an end. Natsu waited and saw a telltale flash of bright light and immediately curled his body into itself and tucked into a roll. A fist came down where his head would have been, leaving a small crater in the ground. Natsu untucked and flipped his body. He immediately went stiffened his torso but bent his legs. He thrust his legs out into something akin to a dropkick and planted his feet firmly into the mans face.

The man shot off like a rocket. Natsu quickly planted an arm down and spun himself letting a small ring of fire fly out from his other hand which was outstretched. The ring of fire covered the arena, almost in an explosive way. Dust got thrown up as air rushed in to fill the now searing hot air causing something close to a vacuum. Nobody could hear a thing, except Natsu of course as sand and dust from the arena slowly began to get picked up. While he could hear, he still couldn't see because even the best of eyes can't see through solid matter.

Natsu waited for a few seconds and noticed no immediate retaliation. So Natsu's idea of how the magic worked was good. The ninth wasn't specialized in teleportation magic, rather body magic. Expert teleportation mages were able to transport themselves instantly at any time they wanted wherever they wanted even if they couldn't see, assuming they had magic energy left. The ninth was obviously not as he always had to stiffen and stop moving which was detrimental. It would explain why he had to wait, and why he hadn't counterattacked when Natsu sent the burst of flame.

Natsu grinned and flashed forward and practically appeared before the man. Natsu gave him a quick chop to the neck and ran back to where he was. He tossed some dust into his hair and wiped some free dirt along his face and clothes, creating a few small rips in them as he went. Hopefully that would give everyone the idea that they had been fighting while in the dust. Natsu flopped down and waited for the dust to clear. When that was done, Natsu stood up and bent over, pretending to be out of breath while. Of course, Natsu knew it wouldn't fool anyone worth their salt though they didn't seem to be paying attention to the battle.

Natsu looked outside the barrier and saw one orange headed man with a scar on his nose flirting with one platinum blonde. Natsu shook his head to clear his thoughts and cleared his throat. Several heads turned as he did so. If God Serena had noticed or cared, he made no indication of it. Natsu quietly growled and took a step towards the barrier. Mira saw this and shook her head before going back to her animated conversation with the first god of Ishgar. Natsu continued on, walking straight up to the barrier and almost shattering it when he came within ten feet of it. The barrier was completely destroyed the moment he was within nine feet as the pieces broke down into small cubes and fell around the ground. If all heads weren't on him before, they certainly were now.

"So, "Natsu spoke tersely, "Am I in or were you to busy trying to chase some tail?"

"Bold words from a weak mage. Besides, I wouldn't consider it chasing if she came to me," the first god spoke. While his tone was calm, his demeanor was anything but peaceful. He exuded enough power to uproot some of the closer trees. Obviously, he seemed upset.

"Nice try though I know well enough when another dragon tries to… encroach," Natsu said.

"Dragon huh? I'm nothing like those beasts, but still, what a fantastic delusion. I wouldn't call it encroaching as it was never yours in the first place. After all, why would anyone want to choose…" he said giving Natsu a quick glance up and down before giving him a meaningful look.

"If you're so confident, why don't you let Mirajane choose?" Natsu asked, "After all, even with all the power you have, it's meaningless if it can't get you any perks because you see, I'm somewhat confused."

"And why would that be?"

"I though fuckboys were able to, ya know, fuck," Natsu said.

"You little shit," he growled taking several steps forward. Natsu wasn't worried.

"I wanna try and see it from your perspective but I don't think it's possible for me to get my head that far up my ass," Natsu said.

If there wasn't going to be a fight before, there certainly was now. See, dragon slayers take blows to their pride, even if from the most idiotic insults. Natsu didn't have to say much, or anything really to rile the second gen slayer. Natsu growled and stepped forward, matching steps with the first God of ishgar. They stood at roughly the same height, with Natsu's spikey hair though, he looked around a half foot taller. Natsu grinned as God Serena rapidly increased his magic power. Natsu waited for a second or ten for him to finish up. When God Serena was done, everyone felt like bugs in comparison. The ground shook and smaller trees were uprooted. Natsu laughed and let a tiny portion of his power leak out.

Most everyone doubled over, with an exception of the tiny master and one Mirajane Strauss. Both of them felt nothing but warmth and comfort, one more so than the other.

Natsu grinned as the other man's eyes widened almost comically. He tried desperately to increase his own but got nowhere. Feeling helpless and desperate, God Serena mumbled something and tried to slam his arms down into the ground, though it was closer to moving through molasses than air with the energy causing the very ground beneath him to shake. It was because of this that the attack missed horribly. A large fissure cracked open in front of him before veering wildly past Natsu's figure. Natsu turned to see Makarov quickly get swallowed up with the thing headed towards one Mirajane Strauss. Makarov had tried to jump away, but he hadn't. God Serena wasn't the first wizard saint for no reason. Makarov barely registered it. Mira was next.

Nobody saw her move, just her seemingly disappear as the magic in the fissure crumbled to small cubes. Natsu appeared where he was before hand, standing near face to face with God Serena now mere inches away from him. Nobody had seen him move, only that he was seeming gone. A puch was thrown and connected solidly with the pink headed slayer's face. Natsu let his head turn from the right hook, letting the fist rest against it. How cocky, hadn't even bothered to follow through with the rest of the punch. Natsu cracked a wicked grin and slowly but surely pushed his face back till he was facing the first god. Natsu grinned, catching a weak jab, easily slipping past it and yanking the "god" towards him.

Natsu growled before letting loose a roar easily heard for miles, out even to the reaches of the countryside outside of Magnolia. People covered their ears instinctively, a distinct ringing that only a dragon could leave. Natsu looked back at God Serena, before disappearing. God Serena appeared to stumble around for a moment before falling to his knees, bruises and blood appearing around his body. He barely had time to toss a small medallion on the ground.

Natsu reappeared at least a minute later, back turned and fists bloody, God Serena falling to the floor, unconscious. Nobody disturbs a dragon when it is enjoying itself, especially in the company of the one. Natsu growled, roaring once more, again, causing people to go cowering, rushing for cover in fear that a dragon might be approaching.

Thousands of miles away, one blue and black dragon growled in fury. It wanted to go and finish that little wretch that had put him in such a miserable state those three years ago. Another several thousands of miles away, a giant, red dragon chuckled to himself. His son had grown strong, and in that instance, he, and every other dragon knew, Natsu was the one, the true salvation. The one who would finish it all and bring the rise of dragons once more. And Igneel, and every other dragon knew something else, in that same instance, that not a single damn one could even scratch the dragon slayer, let alone beat him.

A dragon would die before they let them be killed. Natsu was no exception. Nothing harmed the One, for all knew that you never anger a dragon unless you have a death wish, and you never even think about harming their one, because not even death himself could stop a truly angry dragon when protecting their One. Nothing.

Natsu walked forward, ignoring the yells of those who were conscious enough. He walked right up to the unconscious man, and pulled him up by his hair, tapping his chest eight times. Natsu chuckled to himself and threw the half dead saint towards the other Ishgar 4, who stood, nearly motionless, eyes blank. Natsu knew the impression he had made on everyone, nearly instantly beating the strongest mage in the country. Nobody could beat him, not currently on this continent.

Natsu grabbed the medallion and put it into his own pocket space, "I trust this meeting is over?"

There was no reply, and Natsu knew what it meant, "Master, I think it is time to go, no?"

"Agreed child," Makarov said, taking his leave as well, holding the sleeping Mira in his arms out for Natsu to take. Natsu did just that. He'd be damned if he disturbed her.

"Natsu. You need to tell me the truth. How strong are you?" Makarov asked out of the blue whence they arrived back at the rooms in Crocus. Natsu had put Mira in bed and gone down for a drink with Makarov. They sat in a decent bar, nestled in the corner of a small street. It was fairly high quality given where it was situated. Natsu and Makarov sat towards the back, huddled in a small corner.

Natsu laughed, "That's a good question. How much do you want to know? What that power as, or how strong I am normally?"

"Everything I suppose," Makarov said.

"That will take a while, most certainly. But if that is what you need, I suppose you are the one who has to sit through the entire story," Natsu said, "Listen to what I say, no interruptions. In actuality, I'm nearly five times older than you, which honestly means I shouldn't be calling you Old Man, but ehh, who cares? Either way, I'm some four hundred and thirty-six years old. My true physical body is nearly eighty. There are two reasons for this. One, all dragon slayers in this day and age are at least two hundred. I Just happen to be the second oldest, and the only person to know why the dragons disappeared.

I will not tell you why they did or what the deal with that is as it is between me and the dragon council and nobody else. If you were to get their confirmation then I'll tell you but as of now, it is not enough. The second reason for my physical body being over eighty, is that my brother, who you most likely know of, as left as an orphan. The entire family, including me was killed by a dragon. Acnologia to be precise.

My brother was away at the time, managing to completely avoid everything that had happened, leaving the only him. The rest of my family and I died. He was left on his own, so he enrolled in magic school. Then he used death magic to try and bring me back to life. And eventually, he did. And because of his tampering's in the sacred Law of Ankhseram, he was cursed to be immortal. In this time, he tried to raise me after successfully bringing me back to life as E.N.D. He met Igneel after a while and they raised me.

After a while, he had to leave as his power became to great, and in an effort to purge himself of the sins and curses, he created the etherious, or unleashed them on the world rather. They had been created in an effort to kill him and bring me back to life. I was the last, and the strongest. You know him as Zeref. Zeref Dragneel. My brother, the one who I will save. The one who will help me kill Acnologia, and I will be the one to free him from the curse.

As for my power… I was trained by the strongest dragons in the council. I am considered the ultimate dragon slayer. I have done things no other slayer has. And thus, I could nearly match Igneel's strength all those years ago. While the other slayers got trained for four to seven years, I was trained for far more than that. Twelve or so years I think.

I might be able to stand up to Igneel now, but I don't really know. I know for a fact, Igneel could level the country if he felt like it. So could I. As for the power you just saw… I won't go into perfect detail, but that saint tried to attack me, but more importantly, my One. That state of power is only temporary, but may be triggered, but not for oneself. It must be triggered by the dragon's One. They can't use it unless the One is in danger, serious danger.

I know for a fact, that in that instance, I could beat every dragon to have ever lived, and yet, only for that instance. That is as much as I will tell you. I'm going to head to bed, night Old Man."

Natsu walked up the stairs glancing around as he went. His head was spinning ever so slightly. Natsu pulled out the key to one of the two rooms they had been given because apparently the Magic Council was too cheap to give them one for every person. Natsu somewhat blindly stumbled into the room and passed out upon hitting the nearest soft object, the sofa.

Natsu glanced around at the white space around him, knowing he was in his mind once more. A horned version of himself appeared from nowhere in a swirl of black flames. He had black markings over one of his eyes.

"Hello again. What do you want this time?" Natsu asked.

"Get the book. Before we both die. That is all," E.N.D. said, "well one more thing actually. Fix the issue. Only the one."

"Glad we can agree on something I guess," Natsu said before vanishing. Natsu awoke with a slight start, nearly slamming his face into the one leaning over him. It took Natsu a few seconds to register the white hair and blue eyed individual standing in front of him. Natsu stuttered for a moment, completely lost before realizing what must have happened. He had just passed out last night.

"Hello Mirajane, how's your morning?" Natsu asked.

"Pretty good. Why are you in my room?" Mirajane asked.

"Straight to the point. Well, I kinda passed out last night. I just opened one of the rooms and flopped down on the nearest thing I could find," Natsu said.

"Lucky us it wasn't the bed," Mira muttered darkly. Natsu couldn't tell if she was angry or sad.

"Yeah…? Heh heh heh, Um Mira, do you wanna grab a bite to eat?" Natsu asked.

Mira cheered up slightly before shaking her head, "Yeah of course, do we want to get Master up?"

"He's not here anymore apparently," Natsu said, sniffing the air, "We should probably check the room."

Natsu and Mira did just so and found a note saying that Makarov was going back to the guild to meet up with one of the now ex-councilmen, Yajima.

"Okay well that solves that, yeah?" Mira asked, "Let's go eat now."

"Yeah, I'm starved," Natsu said, "Where do you want to go?"

"Not sure. There are a lot of good places, though. I come to Crocus fairly often. What are you in the mood for?" Mirajane asked.

"Let's say something hearty? I feel like a good large meal would do me some good, yeah?" Natsu laughed patting his stomach.

"Eh, I don't think so. I happen to quite like how you look most of the time," Mira said somewhat sheepishly.

"Do you now? You might have to explain it to me," Natsu laughed.

"Well, you're ever so slightly taller than me, you're pretty well muscled but not overly so to the point that it's annoying like Elfman, and the fact that you're fairly pleasing to the eyes helps a lot, especially when you are in normal clothes," Mira said.

Natsu laughed, "You're being quite open about this, aren't you?"

"I mean well yeah, my entire job is about being open about just about everything. I don't really have all that many inhibitions, plsu there isn't anything against people saying these things. Most people go on to say more than what I normally do," Mira said, "It's not really that weird."

"I guess," Natsu said, "What exactly is your job?"

"Sorcerer's Weekly model. Best in the business," Mira laughed.

"So you're entire job is basically showing your body?" Natsu asked but saw the look on Mira's face and immediately realized how that sounded, "I'm not judging you, you can do what you want with your body. I could honestly care less, because as long as you are comfortable with it, it's absolutely fine. It's just in dragon culture, we just aren't all that open about that kinda stuff."

"It's not?"

Natsu laughed, "How do I explain this? Uh, let's see. Dragons mate with one dragon, and that is their mate for the rest of their existence, they only feel attraction to that one person. Even if they aren't loved back. With dragons, they bond with the dragon and after a certain amount of time with the correct circumstances, they both form a bond. The only real way for a dragon to not end up with their mate is if one dies. In dragon slayers, we don't get as much of a choice. We get bound to the person who would most suit us. Most die before that happens, either due to the magic and how potent it is or being killed off."

"That's both kinda sad and kind of amazing. What happens if that mate rejects them, or if the mate dies," Mira asked curiously.

"If we get rejected, then it is possible to move on, though more often than not, they get rejected and end up dying. It's far more common in dragon slayers than dragons. It's because there aren't that many other dragon slayers, I could estimate there are about fifty slayers left in the country of nearly three-hundred million. Only seven of them are dragon slayers. There are only seven dragon slayers left in this country, eight if you count Acnologia who was once a slayer.

For a dragon slayer, because the mates are mostly limited to humans, with a very very small exception of the other seven slayers at any given time, if they get rejected they die. There is one exception. That is if you didn't get trained by a true dragon. They have a lacrima with dragon power put in them and they gain the power from that.

But back to the rest of us, using myself as an example, if I get rejected by my mate, or would be mate, I would either die or continue to live but without as much power. When a dragon or dragon slayer gets a mate, they gain a significant boost in power, to protect the mate. If the mate is thrown into danger, they can tap into that power which would otherwise lay dormant," Natsu said.

"Do you know who your mate is yet?" Mira asked.

Natsu's eyes flashed up for a second before he shook his head, salmon locks of hair shadowing his eyes, "I'm… No, no I don't."

"That's too bad, maybe you'll find one in the future. I'd like to meet her," Mira said unknowingly sending a sense of dread through Natsu. He couldn't tell her yet. He needed to wait a little while more. Maybe another month?

"Mira, you are the one," Natsu whispered, so quietly that even another dragon slayer wouldn't have head him.

"Yeah! That'd be fun. Wonder what she'd think of you," Natsu wondered, "Now, where are we going?"

"I know just the place," Mira said.


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey what's up? Don't have much of an author's note so yeah. Anyway, anything else you guys want to see? Oh, and the reason for one of the later scenes is that our first time hanging out together (My girlfriend and I) was having a race. I beat her but it was close. We both ran track and cross country but never got a chance to see who could win in a race. Lots of fun! Oh, special dedication to those fans of the tory who asked for them to move quickly, especially 25NaMi, thank you for all of the support and ideas! On with the chapter!**

* * *

Natsu and Mirajane stepped out of the restaurant into the warm summer air. It wasn't too humid or muggy, but perfectly warm, an even present breeze rustling leaves and loose clothing. The lunch they had was good, hearty. Natsu sighed in content before taking his signature position with his arms up, hands resting on the back of his head. Natsu and Mira walked around for a bit, not having much to do.

"Natsu, you've never seen our studios, have you?" Mira asked.

"No I can't say I even know what you do in there," Natsu said sheepishly. All those years away from humans had kind of crippled his knowledge of their day to day affairs.

"Well, do you want to go see them with me? I want to take care of something," Mira asked.

"Sure, might be interesting. What do you need to do?" Natsu asked.

"Just set something up is all," Mira said. Natsu and Mira walked through the streets before arriving at a large building. Mira grabbed Natsu's hand because he was just standing outside and staring up. Natsu got dragged in the offices by Mira with her monstrous strength. Natsu looked around at the large number of people just lounging around or writing things down on notepads. Natsu also noted a few flashes of light going off every so often.

"Where are we going? And are we there yet?" Natsu asked childishly pouting.

"Give it a second Natsu, come on, into the room," Mira said, still dragging Natsu along. Natsu flipped himself up and landed on his feet next to the white-haired beauty. Mira looked over for a second before opening a door in the hall and sitting down on the couch.

Natsu covered his ears instinctively and was glad he did as the loud shout of "COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL" by the blonde man in the room would have blown out his eardrums.

"Calm down Jason. I'm here to schedule a shoot between me and Natsu later," Mira said taking a professional, harder tone.

"Natsu Dragneel?" Jason asked, "COOOOOOOL!"

"Shut up Jason, you're going to hurt his ears," Mira said jokingly, as they both stared at the salmon headed dragon slayer writhing in agony on the floor.

"Sorry, when do you want to do this?" Jason asked, also taking on a somewhat more professional tone which allowed Natsu to get up off the floor, though his ears were still ringing.

"Today?" Mira asked.

"Sure, if Mr. Dragneel is okay with it," Jason said, "I can have the cameras ready in five, and if you want an article about him, get him out into the public's eyes."

"Natsu, how do you feel about doing a shoot with me right now? And having an article done?" Mira asked.

Natsu glanced up blankly, the ringing in his ears drowning out the words that had been said. Natsu squinted before flopping onto the couch, "Yeah?"

"Great, I'll give you five minutes to prepare and get ready for the shoot," Jason said before leaving the room.

"Good. We'll be waiting in here; Natsu, you ready?" Mira asked.

Natsu, who just regained his hearing pulled himself off the floor miserably looked at Mira with a questioning look, "Ready for the shoot in five minutes?"

"Is that what you were asking me about just then? I couldn't hear a thing, that guy was too loud," Natsu said.

"Oh, well yeah it was. You're doing a photo shoot and then an article with me," Mira said.

"You knew I wouldn't be able to hear anything, didn't you?" Natsu asked. Mira nodded. Natsu sighed before standing up and going with Mira. They waited for Jason to come back, and as soon as he stepped in the room, a wall peeled back to reveal a small set with a green lacrima screen behind it.

"Okay, Mr. Dragneel I think what we'll do with you is the normal thing we do with Mirajane since she is the one you're working with," Jason said.

"Natsu is fine, and what do you mean normal?" Natsu asked, before seeing Mirajane step out of the changing room off to the side. She was wearing a black and red bikini, "You know what, I think I figured it out. What exactly do I need to do?"

"Just put on a pair of trunks that are in the room behind you and we'll go from there," Jason said.

Natsu changed and stepped back in front of the camera, Mirajane waiting on him patiently. Mira plopped down on the sand, sitting on her knees and leaning forward ever so slightly. Natsu sat down next to her before Mira planted her hand on his chest and pushed him to the ground, forcing him to lie on the sand that they had put there. A few snaps went off and Natsu registered that Mira had laid down next to him and there was a camera over him and her.

The shoot went on for a good hour, swapping them from swim wear to just normal clothes to something more elegant. Natsu wore a black three-piece suit while Mira wore and elegant, strapless black and white dress cut just above mid-thigh. A few more shots were taken before the door opened.

Mira groaned and Natsu looked up to see another girl standing in the doorway. She strode over towards them but instead of stopping in front of Mira who she seemed to know, she stepped right past and up to Natsu.

"Well handsome, who might you be?" she asked, her voice ever so layer with a light husky tone covering up everything else.

"Natsu Dragneel, and you might be?" Natsu said, bowing his head ever so slightly.

"Gentleman huh, that's nice," she said, twirling her blonde hair, "Jenny Realight."

"What are you doing here Jenny?" Mira asked the blonde woman.

"Oh you know, just stopping in, wondering why they didn't ask the real number one model in Fiore to do a shoot with this hunk of man right here," she said, dragging her arm across Natsu's arm and torso.

"Because I was the one who asked to do it with Natsu, not you," Mira growled.

"Oh, but he'd so much rather do it with me, wouldn't you Natsu?" Jenny asked pressing herself against the slayer, trying to show off as much skin as possible. Natsu felt his arm being sandwiched in between the new model's breasts Natsu was extremely uncomfortable at this point. Jenny looked at him expectantly, Mira just looking down, eyes shadowed by her hair. Natsu glanced at Jenny for a second before ripping his arm and body away from the blonde model and walking over to Mirajane.

"No, I don't think I would. I'd rather do it with Mira, and only Mira, or not at all," Natsu said draping his arm around the woman and pulling her closer to him. Mira looked up at Natsu for a second, an unreadable face before a small smile and a light pink dusting appeared on her beautiful features.

"Are you sure?" Jenny asked, adding more husk to her tone, arching her back and showing her breasts off more so than ever.

"Yeah absolutely. In fact, I was the one who requested to do it with Mira, and Mira alone. She just allowed me to," Natsu said, making a quick cover story. Mira looked up once more, a smile once again gracing her face. A few moment later is was replaced by a smirk. Mira looked at Natsu once more then gave Jason a look who simply nodded.

"Well, Natsu, I think we're done. What do you think we should do next," Mira asked Natsu happily.

"Well, I think it's time for me to treat you to dinner for our little date together, right?" Natsu asked a bit louder than normal, projecting it towards Jenny.

"Ah yeah, I forgot about that, where are we going might I ask?" Mira said, catching onto what Natsu was doing. She was grateful for it.

"Ah can't have you knowing, secrets, right?" Natsu said, "Though, I do think it is time to leave, is it not?"

Mira nodded, and turned to leave with Natsu but not before grabbing his arm and linking it with hers, grasping his hand as they left. She sent a quick smirk over her shoulder at Jenny who looked about ready to explode. Mira and Natsu stepped out of the building and Natsu collapsed on the ground and sighed.

"Okay, can we go back to the rooms now?" Natsu asked.

"Not so fast Mr. Dragneel, if I can recall, you're taking me somewhere to eat, is that right?" Mira asked grinning. She wasn't actually expecting him to do anything, so his response shocked her.

"I mean we kinda need to get ready, don't you think?" Natsu asked, "Sure it's nothing fancy, hell I don't even plan on a conventional date, but it's something. Just be dressed in something… let's say scrappy, that you don't care too much about."

"Um what?" Mira asked, "You were serious?"

"Well yeah, I can't say it then just go back on it. I'm taking you out on a date, but not a traditional one," Natsu laughed, "I have something a bit less conventional."

"Oh? When do I get to find out about this?" Mira asked.

"Well, I think that maybe an hour would be good, yeah?" Natsu asked, "But don't do anything too fancy."

"Only an hour? And why not fancy?" Mira asked.

"You'll see," Natsu laughed, "I think an hour will be enough. If you would meet me around the northern outskirts of Crocus by the forest with the large tower and lake?"

"Of course, what are you going to do?" Mira asked.

"Surprise you I think. Hopefully it works!" Natsu laughed.

Natsu and Mir parted ways, with Natsu getting to the outskirts where he'd meet Mira. All he needed to do now was to make what he needed. He had to make two things, one of which would be significantly harder than the first. Natsu held his hand to his chest and sent a burst of dragon slayer magic through his clothes, causing them to briefly glow blue before shifting into something completely different.

Natsu set off to make the first thing he had to, which was a decent enough boat. Why bother buying one when you can make one? Natsu walked over to a large tree and pressed his palm against it. The tree sunk down, flowing into a small black symbol that appeared on Natsu's arm. He finished with that tree and repeated the process. After a few minutes, Natsu had enough materials to do what he wanted. The only issue with the kind of magic that he was using, was that it took a large amount of energy and matter, and said matter had to be in the same form. To make wood, he would need wood, same for stone, or metal, or water. He could change the state of matter any time, but he still needed to have the same base.

Natsu walked over to the water and grinned before concentrating. Matter flowed out of the symbol, glowing a bright white and taking a large globular form. Natsu finished that and began using his magic to mold the mass. Natsu first formed a stable base and adding a waxy coating using tree sap he had gotten in the tree, most of the material going into that. After that, Natsu focused on walls and streamlining the shape. After that was done, Natsu stopped for a second and lifted his creation into the water. It floated, but Natsu had to make sure it would float well enough. Natsu leapt up and landed in the mass. It floated, only sinking a few inches. Natsu grinned before focusing on the finer details, adding a clamp or two, some holding spots for oars, and a few benches.

After some good time, Natsu was done, a pristine, fresh boat floating on the water of the lake. It would only seat two people, but that was what it was designed for. On the front, Natsu had stylized the wood with his fire and creating intricate dressings and markings. Natsu grinned for a second before getting to work on his second creation, this one only taking a few minutes because of how used to making them he was. Natsu stepped back and laughed, hiding the second creation in a small compartment Natsu had made for them. The space was carved into the back of the boat, right under his bench so that Mira wouldn't be able to see them.

Natsu walked back to where he was supposed to meet Mira. He only had to wait for a few minutes before she showed up. Natsu laughed when he saw what she was wearing. It was a good thing she had listened, though he had expected her to try and resist a little bit. What she as wearing was probably a little bit better than what he had hoped for. It was no offense to Mira, just that he had come to expect it from people.

"Well Mira, it seems you took what I said to heart," Natsu laughed looking at the white haired-beauty in what looked like something she might work out in. If that was the case, then this would be a whole lot easier. Plus, Natsu could always change it if he needed to.

"What? You got a problem with it matchstick?" Mira asked, pretending to be annoyed. She would have sold it perfectly if she didn't give a tell-tale smirk at the end. Natsu had taken the time to read most of the people in the guild. That really just made it easier for him.

"Absolutely not! This was more than what I had expected, and this is so much better actually," Natsu said happily, "If you are ready to go, let's be off!"

"Yeah, let's. But! Are you going to tell me where you are taking me, or what you are doing?" Mira asked, "I'd rather like to know honestly."

"Eh I could tell you but that'd ruin the surprise wouldn't it?" Natsu asked.

"Fine, but are we almost there yet?"

"Well, not quite, maybe a fifteen-minute walk unless you feel like going full speed?" Natsu grinned.

"Let's go, try to keep up," Mira said, racing ahead of Natsu. Natsu laughed and shook his head; she was going to get lost because he was the only one who knew where they were going. Natsu grinned seeing the dust trail that was getting ever farther away. Natsu took a step before all but flying after Mira, before casually running alongside her. Mira looked over at Natsu before speeding up, but of course, they were going to be there soon, unless… Natsu had an idea. Quick as the wind, Natsu was near the boat, nabbed the second creation and put it in his pocket dimension. A second later, Natsu was back behind Mira. Mira shouted in surprise as the salmon haired mage appeared in front of her, running backwards, boasting his incredible speed. It scared her enough to cause her to stumble and nearly fall. She would have if a certain dragon slayer hadn't caught her.

Natsu stopped and grinned down at the model in his arms. She slapped him in response to his cheeky grin. Natsu laughed and set Mira down, letting her stand up. Natsu waited patiently, letting her stand up, but also not wanting to drop her lest he incurred her wrath. Igneel taught him a lot of things, but hammered a few into his head. He had used this particular piece of advice many times. As Igneel always said, Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Natsu sure as hell wasn't going to try his luck, especially with this woman.

Mira picked herself up and glared at Natsu before laughing, "Alright Natsu, you had your fun, but what do you want to actually do?"

"Well, you kept running so I had to go and pick something up for you. It was meant to be the last part of the ride but is suppose now will do then," Natsu grinned, "Do you want to run back or spoil the best part?"

"Best part, huh? Might as well save it, I suppose."

"Alright then, let's get this moving, yeah? I want to do something," Natsu said, walking back to where he was initially. Mira followed, taking only about five minutes to get back to where the boat was. Of course, Mira had no idea what she was waiting for, but eh. Natsu grinned before leading her onto the little boat he had made.

"Natsu, where did you get this?" Mira asked apprehensively.

"I uhh… Hmm… I made it of course!" Natsu laughed, failing to see Mira looking somewhat startled, "Oh it's fine. I already tested it and everything. It'll work fine!"

"You sure? I don't feel like going for a late-night swim with you. These clothes are practically see through when wet," Mira said, sitting down. Natsu followed right after her, grabbing the oars and pushing them through the water.

"To be fair, so are all of those little bikini things you wear," Natsu said putting his hands behind his head and leaning back.

"What do you mean?" Mira asked.

"Well, I mean that I can basically see through them," Natsu said, eyes closed.

"What? How?" Mira yelled.

"Well, I suppose it's my dragon senses. I can see all of the individual fibers if I want to and that includes through the little gaps in them. You were pretty close after all. They kinda morph around your body so I can see through the gaps and get a fairly decent idea of well you know… I don't of course, but I could I suppose," Natsu said, opening an eye. Mira sat in the corner of the boat, somewhat huddled.

"You can see through them?" Mira asked. She sounded on the verge of tears.

"Not entirely, and even if I could, I wouldn't. It's purely rude, plus why would I want to?" Natsu asked. For the second time in a few hours, he had chosen the wrong words.

"Am I not beautiful enough for you?" Mira asked. Natsu opened his eyes and mentally slapped himself. Natsu leaned over the bench, seeing a single drop fall onto the small deck of the boat. He made her cry. Fuck.

"Hey, please don't cry Mirajane, honestly. I didn't mean it that way, so much that I have no reason to. Remember the whole mate thing?" Natsu asked, he fucked up, bad, "You're plenty pretty. You're amazingly beautiful! All of Fiore seems to think so!"

Again, wrong choice of words. Another tear slipped down her face, falling onto the wood beneath. Natsu felt her tense up. He needed to do something obviously, but what?

"I don't care what they think!" Mira half shouted-half blubbered, "I want to know. I want to know what you think! I care about what you think, not them! You actually took the time to get to know me a little bit. They know nothing about me, they only look at my face and body."

"Believe me, I think you are absolutely stunning. Honestly though, I could care less what you look like. You're still my friend," Natsu said.

"Natsu, tell me the truth damnit! Don't lie to me, please? I've only got the looks! That's it! I'm not strong, I'm not all that smart, I'm clingy and controlling, ad my personality is shit, and I'm insecure. I have only the looks, probably the only positive thing about me! Everyone always stops to ogle, but none of them want to talk! I can see why though, I drive everyone away," Mira cried.

"Please, for your own good, Mirajane -and I do mean this in the best way possible- shut the fuck up. None of that is true! You're very smart and strong, you're S-class! And as for your personality, that's what I love most about you! It's what I care about, because in my mind, you're not you if you don't have that personality. Maybe you are clingy and controlling, yeah, but you can work with that! There's no reason to feel bad about it, and especially no reason to cry about it. Please, don't cry, okay?"

Mira looked up, another tear leaking out of her eye. Natsu made an executive decision. It was probably a horrible one, but he still did it. Natsu leaned forward and grabbed Mira, hoisting her up and sitting her down next to him on the bench. Natsu wrapped his arm around her, draping it over her shoulders and pulling her ever so slightly closer.

* * *

Natsu sat taller than she did by a few inches, allowing her to lean her head in a way that put her in against the side of his chest, around where his heart would be. She could lean forward and put her head right on his chest. The man she leaned against let out the most comforting, happy aura she'd felt basically ever. She felt overwhelming safe when she was near him, and now that she could feel his heart, strongly beating, pushing boiling hot blood through his veins, she thought that she had never been safer.

He would protect her, no matter what. Mira felt him shift, leaning his body against the side of the boat, letting her basically lay down, keeping her head and upper back pressed into him. She felt the heat he exuded, she felt his chest rise and fall, his breathing slowing. He was falling asleep, and to be honest, she was too. She stretched her legs, feeling around, relishing the feeling of warmth of her own personal heater. Mira leaned her head back, letting it rest against his chest, right on his heart. She tilted her head back a little, eyes skyward. She looked at the handsome face above hers, drinking in all of the subtle features, every scar, every blemish, anything she could. She felt an overwhelming surge of… something. She couldn't describe it, only as something.

Mira leaned her head back down, letting her eyes shut slowly. Even with her eyes closed, she felt as close to him as she did with her eyes open. She didn't need to see him to know he was there. She felt every fiber of his being, feeling his slow, deep breathing as his heart beat rhythmically, sending a new warm feeling as his life substance coursed through every part of his body. She every move, every twitch, every beat.

She drank in all the warmth of his body, pressing herself into his body, feeling the aura of warmth and safety increase ever so slightly. And then, she felt it. She felt his arms slowly, but surely wrap around her waist, pulling her into him. She let out a soft breath ever so slightly visible in the crisp, night air. She wouldn't know though, her eyes were closed, her body focused on drinking in as much of him as possible. Everything.

And at long last, she finally drifted off to sleep, snuggling herself ever so slightly closer to him. She wanted it all, selfish as it might sound, but it didn't matter, because he was willing to give it all to her. The last she felt, was him, pulling her closer, keeping her comfortably against his body.


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey guys what's up? I'm back to do a few updates on my favorite story, also my most popular. I have a question though, a close friend of mine has asked me to do something and I want to know. Would you folks be interested in a high school style AU NaMi story? Just kidna curious because someone asked me to and I've been thinking about it. So yeah!**

 **IMPORTANT:**

 **Do you want to see an AU NaMi story? Setting high school, most likely with Natsu in a band with a few people like Grey and Gajeel and Jellal?**

* * *

Natsu's eyes opened a fraction, taking in the sight of a forest. When was he in the forest? Natsu fully opened his eyes and glanced around, taking note of his surroundings. Natsu took a few seconds to think before remembering. That wasn't how he would have planned that date, but it sure as hell worked. Natsu quite chuckled to himself, about to lift himself up then thinking better of it when he noted one platinum blonde resting on his, well everything basically. She was pretty much on top of him with the exception of Natsu's head.

'Well then, looks like I'm trapped here,' Natsu thought to himself, 'She'll kill me if I move.'

Natsu looked around, finding that they had moved from the center of the lake to more around the shore, resting in a small area under a tree that overhung the water. Natsu looked around, there was no way he could have gotten them here, and no way Mira had either. It was almost perfectly still water and he had made sure he had stopped. Natsu glanced around, looking for a sign.

Natsu took a sniff of the air and found out what it was immediately. That damn pervert, Natsu growled. Oh well, at least he knew why. Natsu felt the weight on his body stir and looked down, seeing to blue eyes staring up at him.

"Sleep well?" Natsu asked cheekily.

"Shut up," Mira said before whispering to herself, "We're doing this again." If the salmon-headed dragon slayer had heard, he made no indication. Mira sat up slowly and glanced around. Looked like they had slept through the night in their little boat. Mira made a note to herself to keep the small boat for later.

"I suppose we have to get back to the guild now, don't we?" Natsu asked

"Yeah, I guess though I'd rather not have to explain," Mira groaned.

"Well, you could always tell them that we were doing that whole photoshoot thing I guess," Natsu said.

"That's true, but that's set to come out in two weeks, or maybe one given what happened. Plenty of gossip, but we can't really blame them for that. It almost like a second, smaller job for them honestly," Mira said, "Though I wouldn't worry about them telling lies. If Jason is writing it, it'll be fine."

"You seem to trust him a lot," Natsu said.

"I should, especially given that he's never wronged me and I've worked with him for the majority of my career," Mira said.

"Oh yeah! What exactly are you going to do about that, quit? Or will you just keep the modeling up?" Natsu asked.

"I suppose I will, though I'm not entirely sure," Mira said.

"Well, that's all fine and dandy, but I kinda need you to get off me," Natsu said.

"And why would I do that?" Mira asked, giving Natsu a devilish smirk.

"I could always move you myself," Natsu said, "That's an option."

"And how would you do that?"

"Well… You might get a little wet if I do," Natsu said.

Mira sat there for a second, stunned. Who knew the dragon slayer was capable of that? Mira stared at Natsu, giving an almost challenging, "I dare you" look. Natsu grinned evilly and his hands slowly travelled around the sides of the boat, sticking to the edges, around Mira. Mira smirked as Natsu didn't seem to be to back up his words.

"Looks like you can't liv-" Mira started but was cut off by Natsu grabbing the sides of the boat and spinning, taking the boat along with him. The boat quickly flipped, and Mira was dropped into the water by the now overturned boat. Mira was surprised. She didn't expect the resident idiot to come up with something like that. She poked her head up to the surface but was still under the boat however. She glanced up and saw a laughing dragon slayer, pressing his arms and legs against the side of the boat to keep himself above water. His hands were on the inner wall of the boat and his feet were firmly planted, using the bottom of Mira's bench to hold himself up.

"You cheeky bastard!" Mira yelled.

Natsu just laughed harder, "Hey, I warned you! And are you saying you would have rather it been the other way?"

"Shut up!" Mira said quickly before smirking. Natsu couldn't see what she was planning because his eyes were closed as he laughed. Suddenly, Mira's hands were around Natsu, pulling him down into the water. Natsu, ever unsuspecting, was caught off guard and immediately pulled under the water. Mira went under too, but she was inwardly smirking before feeling the surrounding area heat up very quickly. A strong arm wrapped around her, and she felt herself clear the water. Mira opened her eyes and glanced at the fire dragon slayer, feeling him holding her as he used a small burst of fire to get out of the water. Natsu had one arm around her, and another holding the boat up. His eyes slowly drifted down to her and he grinned. The boat in Natsu's other hand slowly swirled into a center point until disappearing completely, (Imagine Kamui from Naruto. Kakashi Hatake and Obito Uchiha can use it.).

Natsu stopped the flow of fire and they dropped. Of course, there was one issue with this. Mira was still lower than him, her head around his upper stomach. If he landed, her legs would break, probably. Natsu certainly seemed to know about this as he moved his other arm down to hold onto Mira before quickly performing a quick maneuver to fully bring Mira to his height. He snaked an arm around her hips and used it to hoist the model up into a bridal style hold while his other arm kept her steady and from falling. When all was said and done, Natsu was holding Mira, arms firmly secured, holding her with one arm under her back and the other where her thighs and calves met (Also known as the knee pit).

Natsu landed lightly, being his knees to absorb a bit of the blow. Mira didn't feel anything. Natsu grinned as Natsu looked around, confused as to what transpired. Even if she was incredibly fast, her eyes simply couldn't keep up with what had just happened. Of course, if she had been focusing, she could have, but she wasn't.

"So, do you still doubt?" Natsu asked.

"Oh shut up. That was mean," Mira groaned.

"Mmm… Nah! I think it was just fine really. I told you, and I always live up to my word!" Natsu shouted happily.

"Shut it you, I'm wet and have no way of drying myself," Mira asked, "However… It has become abundantly clear that you have a way of drying me."

"Oh? And why would I do that?" Natsu asked.

"Because I told you too, now use that fire of yours and dry me!" Mira said.

"You'd have to take off your clothes," Natsu said quietly. Of course, somehow, Mira heard him and placed her hands around the hem of her shirts and slowly lifted.

Natsu sputter and his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as he watched Mira's open display. Natsu quickly moved forward and grabbed her hands, holding them down, placing them back by her sides. Mira gave him a questioning stare.

"I was joking! I don't need to have you take of your clothes! I thought you knew that!" Natsu shouted indignantly.

"Oh please, like you wouldn't have enjoyed it. Why else would you have gotten me wet if not only to see my clothes to stick to me?" Mira questioned innocently, or as innocently as any person torturing another could.

"Oh fine, you're right. You caught me," Natsu deadpanned.

"I knew it you pervert!" Mira said, feigning anger, "Oh well, the attention isn't unwelcome. Especially because it's from you."

"And what's that supposed to mean!?" Natsu asked. While he was plenty book smart, capable of thinking his way out of an armored vault (Though most of the thoughts are along the lines of blow it sky high), he wasn't the greatest when it came to women. Sure, he was a heaping load of eye candy, but it didn't mean that he knew what to do with himself. That fact became even more pronounced when he was around a certain someone.

"Nothing dragon boy."

"I am certainly not a boy!" Natsu growled indignantly.

"Sure you aren't. You'll just have t prove it to me some time," Mira said nonchalantly.

"Fine! I'll show you I'm no boy!" Natsu said.

"Oh? Then what exactly are you? You don't really have the body type of a woman, you have no breasts and your hips aren't exactly the widest," Mira thought out loud.

"I'm not a woman either! I'm a man! The realest of men!" Natsu shouted.

"You sound like my brother," Mira deadpanned.

"I didn't need to hear that."

At this point Mira was perfectly dry as Natsu had exuded large amounts of warmth.

"Well I suppose it's time to head back to the guild, no?" Natsu asked.

"Yes, I suppose. I enjoyed this," Mira said.

"Agreed. Now, I don't feel like taking a train so why don't we get back to the guild right now?" Natsu asked.

"And how would we do that?" Mira asked curiously.

Natsu grinned and held his hand out, a small red circle appearing in the center of his palm. He grabbed Mira's hand and they were sucked away. Mira stumbled and felt her head spinning. She tried to get to her feet to no avail. She dizzily looked around before spotting a smug salmon-headed male standing in a tree.

"I should have said, it tends to make first timer's dizzy," Natsu said.

"I couldn't tell," Mira said dryly.

"Yeah sorry, do you want me to carry you back to the guild or your home?" Natsu asked.

"Guild, but whence we're near the doors, drop me. I don't feel like starting rumors, especially given Cana most likely being in the guild," Mira groaned.

"Simple solution, piggy-back ride. Nothing wrong can come from that!" Natsu thought.

Mira thought about it for a second. She didn't see anything wrong with it so she nodded and felt herself be picked up and gently placed on Natsu's back. In seconds, Natsu raced off, Mira holding on as Natsu ran at breakneck speeds. Natsu and Mira arrived at the guild in three minutes and fourteen seconds. Well… Maybe arrived was the wrong word. It was more like Natsu slammed face first into the giant metal doors. Luckily, Mira had the sense to detach herself from Natsu's hold and was safely sitting several feet away. Natsu jumped up and shook his head rigorously before dusting himself off and walking back to Mira.

"Well, I think this is fine," Natsu said, staring at the dent in the door.

"Not really, but can we go inside? I'm hungry," Mira asked.

"Sure!" And with that, the duo strode into the guild hall. Of course, a few heads were turned but Natsu figured it was because of the loud bang from outside when he slammed into the door. Natsu looked around the guild, trying to find a certain Ice mage. Natsu found none. Natsu figured he might as well eat, he had nothing better to do. Oh, maybe he could fight Gildarts again! That was always fun! Natsu shot up and ran around but was unable to find Gildarts. Natsu looked around seeing nothing. It was at this point that he saw a set of stairs leading up to a second floor. Natsu grinned to himself and leapt to the second floor, vaulting over the railing and landing lightly on the dark floors. Natsu grinned, heading over to the small set of jobs. Gildarts usually took jobs from up here, right?

Yeah probably! Natsu's senses told him there were two people up here, but it seemed like none of them were Gildarts. There was Makarov and then someone who seemed to closely resemble the master. Natsu wondered, Laxus was obviously watching him but why hadn't he said anything?

"You're not supposed to be up here Brat," he growled.

"Why not?" Natsu asked, "I'm up here pretty often."

"Well not anymore."

"I'm looking for Gildarts. If you don't where he is leave me alone," Natsu said levelly.

"You're a hundred years too young to be up here," Laxus said.

"If only you knew," Natsu said to himself, "If you say so."

"Try me. Leave, or I'll make you."

"Go ahead. I'm not leaving till I find what I'm looking for."

"Have it your way," Laxus grinned, cocking his fist back. Natsu silently chuckled to himself. Natsu simply held a hand up and Laxus stopped cold. Wind billowed behind Natsu as he stopped the heavy blow. Natsu yawned, moving his head back but still keeping his eyes open and focused on Laxus.

"My turn," Natsu grinned, slipping under Laxus's extended arm. Natsu grinned before slamming his fist into the man's gut. The blow curled Laxus in on himself as he was shot through wall out of the back of the guild. Natsu walked back to the railing and sat down, hanging off. Natsu closed his eyes and leaned over the edge. A few stares were sent his way and he happened to catch the eye of a certain platinum blonde. She groaned and walked up the stairs.

"Natsu, get down. You're not supposed to be up there," Mira said softly.

"I'm looking for Gildarts though!" Natsu said, "I need you to move for a second."

Mira gave him a confused look as he opened his eyes and slipped in front of her, stopping a large bolt of lightning from hitting her. Natsu growled as yellow electricity split in several different beams where his palm met it. Natsu held a small flame on each of his finder tips, using it to grab the bolt firmly and compress it. He turned it into a small ball before staring at it, as it turned orange in color. Natsu grinned before popping it in his mouth and chewing on it. He swallowed the energy, sparks popping in and out of existence around him.

A second bolt of lightning followed quick after, though Mira recognized it as Laxus's Lightning Body. Mira about to warn Natsu but he seemed to know as he swung his leg in a wide ax kick, brining it down on top of the bolt which turned out to be Laxus, sending him rocketing through the floor.

"Hundred years, huh? Seems like I'm stronger than you are," Natsu grinned.

"As if," Laxus growled, sending a large pillar of lightning down on top of Natsu. The bolt crashed through the ceiling and struck Natsu square in the back. Mira shouted out to him, but he wasn't focused on that. He saw two things, Laxus rushing forward, and Mira jumping in front of him. That wouldn't do. Natsu quickly placed a hand on Mira's shoulder and kicked up with his legs, using her shoulder as an anchor point to swing himself over as his jump propelled him up and over Mira. Natsu landed in front of her in less than a second and pushed her back a little bit before whirling around and sending a left hook straight into the side of Laxus's face.

The punch sent a small shockwave through the air and served to stop Laxus dead in his tracks and then throwing back out of the same wall he came from. Natsu was about to chase after him before being stopped by Mira, who grabbed his arm and pulled him back. Natsu would have growled and chased after the blond man, as his inner dragon was not so silently fuming about a challenger, but there was nothing he could do if he didn't want to anger Mira or hurt anyone.

"Natsu, calm down," Mira said quietly.

"But…" Natsu's response died in his throat.

"No. It's not worth it," Mira said, "Now let's go doing something else, yeah?"

"Fine," Natsu mumbled, not sounding unlike a moody teen, "But if Laxus comes back?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I said so."

"Meanie," Natsu pouted, "I'll just have to do it on my own time."

"No," Mira said, "You can't fight Laxus."

"Why not?"

"He's a guildmember and part of the family. Not to mention it'd probably hurt his ego, and we don't need that because last time that happened, well…" Mira said.

"What happened?"

"He flew into a fit of rage and nearly destroyed the entire hall. Gildarts had to knock him out," Mira said.

"Oh fine. I suppose he's undefeated then?" Natsu asked.

"Who, Gildarts?" Mira asked and Natsu nodded, "Well not anymore. According to you there was a few fights you won against him though you weren't part of the guild at the time, so I guess he still is."

"Do you guys keep track of all the wins in the guild?" Natsu asked.

"Only for the more powerful members or those who want it," Mira said.

"Oh? Are mine kept?" Natsu asked.

"Uh… Let's see, considering you've only been in the guild for a little while, you've had a lot of fights.

Natsu vs Gray: 57:0

Natsu vs Elfman 39:0

Natsu vs Erza 4:0

Natsu vs Loke 12:0

Natsu vs Jet 23:0

Natsu vs Max 10:0

Natsu vs Alzak 6:0

Natsu vs Droy 14:0

Natsu vs Team Shadow Gear 2:0

Natsu vs Asuka 0:17

And the newest, Natsu vs Laxus 1:0," Mirajane said.

"Are these all written down somewhere, like for everyone?" Natsu asked curiously.

"Yeah, why? Well not yours yet," Mira asked.

"So you just remembered then? You named all of my fights pretty quickly so I'm just wondering," Natsu said.

"Maybe. Don't worry about it," Mira said nonchalantly, "Hey Natsu, I have a question?"

"Yeah? Shoot."

"Do you want to hang out later?" Mira asked.

"Sure! Love to," Natsu said, "You tell me when and I'll be there."

"Alright, well I'm going to go home and get cleaned up, you're welcome to swing by around seven to eat with us. I think Elfman is having someone over as well and I'd rather not deal with that all of dinner."

"Works for me!" And with that, Mira and Natsu parted ways. Natsu was about to leave to clean up when he was approached by a certain redhead. Natsu figure she would move around him to talk to someone else but she stopped in front of him.

"Natsu, do you want to go to a party with me?" she asked.

"When?" He asked.

"Tonight," Erza said simply.

"Uh what time?" Natsu asked.

"An hour," she said, short and quick as usual.

"For how long?" Natsu asked.

"Likely till morning given it's a celebration thrown for the guilds," Erza said, "I'd rather not go alone so I want you to come with me."

"Sorry Erza but I want to be somewhere at seven, Mira invited me over."

"That's fine then, some other time this week, the celebration for all of the guilds going on all week or around that anyway, tonight is the only just a party," Erza said.

"Do I get a choice?" Natsu asked. The look in Natsu's eyes gave him his answer. Not a chance. Natsu swallowed quickly before nodding. Even if he was stronger, he was still afraid of Erza.

"Alright, I'll see what I can do," Natsu said.

"Natsu, after you're done with Mira, do you think that you could come to my place and we could go to that party?" Erza asked.

"Maybe some other time? We could go on a mission and hang out after?" Natsu asked.

"Alright. I can do that," Erza said, "See you then."

Natsu let out a breath he'd been unaware he was holding as she strode off towards the exit. Wondered what she was going to do until then. Natsu groaned inwardly when he realized what he'd done.

"Natsu?" Gray asked from behind him.

"Yes, I did."

"Yeah. Why exactly did you agree to go out with Erza?" Gray asked.

"Well we're just friends and she wanted to have some company," Natsu said, shrugging.

"Damn it Flame Brain. Don't you get it? She never ASKS anyone to go with her, typically she drags us along with or without consent," Gray said.

"I'm sure you're over exaggerating," Natsu said, somewhat worried, "She'd do the same for you."

"No she wouldn't. She's dragged me along plenty of times. Why would she ask you instead of telling you?" gray asked rhetorically.

"Because I'm stronger than she is?" Natsu asked.

"Are you saying your stronger than me!?" Gray shouted.

"Hell yeah Ice Prick! Let's go another round, I'm ready to add another win to my count," Natsu shouted, starting another guild brawl as a stray ice lance hit Elfman who turned and punched Max who went flying into Alzack and bounced into Cana's barrel of beer. Cana in turn used a few cards to shower a certain someone in spells and a few hit bystanders. Poor Reedus was hit by a particularly nasty bowel movement spell, causing him to inflate like a balloon, or more so than he was normally.

After the ensuing chaos, Natsu managed to come out on top, yet again. Natsu glanced at the time lacrima on the wall and thought for a second. He should probably get cleaned up. Mira wouldn't want him over if he was covered in saw dust, glass shards, and splinters of wood. Natsu raced off home to get ready. Of course, he had won the fight, but the tables and glass weren't from him hitting stuff. A few tables had been thrown, along with everyone and everything on or near them. Natsu would always send a blast of crash magic so it wouldn't hurt anyone.

Natsu finished getting cleaned up and slipped out the door, throwing on a light jacket despite the fact that he didn't need it. Of course, he was never really cold, or hot for that matter. Normally, a normal temperature like that of the ocean could kill someone with as high an internal temperature as Natsu. Of course, that's a big issue because then Natsu couldn't shower or go swimming in the ocean. Natsu would cool off too much and die. Luckily, his body was far more suited to harsh conditions and his skin was tougher as well as being able to regulate his internal body temperature through the use of magic. In theory, a true master of fire could even manipulate the internal temperatures of other but that would be considered a form of black magic. Not quite death magic, but almost there. It was still a forbidden art. Natsu was capable of it, though he wasn't ever going to use it unless it was absolutely necessary.

Natsu thought back to what Gray had said. Erza never asked anyone? Strange, why ask him then? It would probably be because he was stronger than she was, but then again, she had managed to drag away multiple people at the same time. Even if she was strong, there was no way she could handle five people. Either way, it didn't matter. The real question was should he tell Mira or not. He wasn't sure, because they certainly had something going on, so was it right for him to do something else with Erza? Natsu was hopeless. Worst comes, worst, Natsu decided to tell Mira because Erza and Natsu were going as friends, so who cared.

Before he noticed it, Natsu was at the door, raising his hand to knock. He hadn't realized he was there yet. Wow. Natsu knocked on the door, turning his head slightly to take in the scenery around him. Natsu heard the footsteps from inside and looked back right as the door opened. Mira stood in the door, smirking.

"Someone must be a bit eager, you're almost twenty minutes early," Mira teased.

"Why wouldn't I be? I et to spend some time with one of my best friends and get to have food," Natsu grinned.

"Fair enough. Elfman and his friend are sitting inside, do you want to help me cook?" Mira asked.

"Sure! Like you said earlier, I'd rather not get stuck with it just being the three of us," Natsu said, "Now are you going to invite me inside or do I get to sit here and watch the grass grow while I wait?"

"Come on," Mira sighed, "I decided to make fish given how much you like it and Elf never has an issue with my cooking, so we should be fine. The only issue would be Evergreen I suppose."

"Uh who?" Natsu asked.

"Evergreen is a member of Laxus's gang, the Thunder God Tribe," Mira said, "Thinks she's the queen of the fairies, says as much anyway. She's challenged Erza quite a few times but never won. There were two people Erza would always fight and one was Evergreen."

"And who was the other one then?" Natsu asked.

"Me of course," Mira said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world which it probably was.

Natsu and Mira walked into the kitchen, spotting Elfman and the girl, who must have been Evergreen. Natsu certainly remembered the scent but didn't recognize the face. Natsu and Mira slipped though the room into the kitchen, trying to avoid the other two as much as possible. Neither of them really wanted to deal with either of them, hence why Natsu was there in the first place. Mira hadn't wanted to deal with the other two, especially alone.

"So yeah that's Evergreen. Apparently, there might be something going on so they're hanging out because of that," Mira said.

"Uh huh," Natsu said skeptically, "So what do you want me to help you with?"

"If you don't mind cooking the fish, that'd be great. I know you have some sort of experience with cooking fish and your fire magic should make it easier. I would think so at least, seeing as you typically spend a lot of time by your lake area. I'd imagine the is an abundance of fish."

"You'd be right. Besides, it was also the easiest thing to catch when I was training with Igneel."

The two made small talk, speaking on topics like food or combat until Natsu thought to bring something up. He wasn't sure if he should have but it was better now than ever. Natsu breathed out and mentally prepared himself. This would either go badly or badly. There were no other possibilities. Maybe he should have given the old dragon a call before he had done this.

"Natsu, do you have plans tonight?" Mira asked, cutting his thoughts off.

"Yeah."

"Oh, then never mind," Mira said, somewhat sadly.

"Before you sound so sad, you should let me tell you what I plan on doing tonight, don't you think?" Natsu asked. Mira nodded, "Well, Mira, I plan on going somewhere to see if I can build a small house to live in. And I was going to ask if you wanted to help me with it. It would last pretty much all night but you have an eye for things like this and I really don't, so I want your help."

"Oh. You want me to help you build a house?" Mira asked, "You're trusting me with that?"

"Of course I am. I never lived in a house before so I don't know what I need to have or anything!"

"Well I'd be happy to help then," Mira said, noticeably happy. Natsu grinned and looked at the kitchen. He was cooking the fish nicely, but he thought they'd most likely need more given the extra people. Natsu might as well have counted as five extra people, but Mira knew that.

"Hey Mira, I think we'll need more food, between Elfman and I," Natsu said, "I think I'm going to grab a few more. I'll be back in five minutes!"

Natsu raced off, sprinting through the forest into the nearby lake. Natsu grinned to himself, before shooting a small bolt of lightning mixed with fire into the water. The electricity coursed through the water, zapping any fish within a five-foot radius. Around 79 feet in total coverage, which should be more than enough. Sure enough, after a few seconds, several fish of varying sizes floated up to the surface along with six freshwater crabs, two very much alive snakes who started to swim away, one freshwater eel, and a rather large and unhappy turtle. Natsu felt bad about the turtle. Crabs were great though, they could eat those! The eel wasn't going to be of much use. Hmm… maybe the turtle would accept the eel as compensation?

Natsu put his arm, holding the eel in his left hand and grabbing the other things with his right. The turtle glanced at the proffered eel and promptly bit down on it, and Natsu's hand in the same bite. Natsu laughed and shook the turtle off casing the reptile to sink back down and enjoy its free meal. For two minutes worth of work, not bad. Several fish and a new snack. Crabs. Mmm delicious. Natsu quickly grabbed a small container from his personal pocket space and tossed the new food in. Natsu had thoroughly boiled the water to make sure that it would kill any and all bacteria or parasites nearby. It also had the added benefit of telling him where the largest concentrations of metal were in the fish. The crabs would be a gift probably. Elfman could eat them some time.

Natsu arrived at the Strauss residence exactly four minutes, thirty-two and five fourths seconds after he had left, nearly giving one platinum blonde a heart attack as he practically materialized in the kitchen.

"Hello, I bring gifts!" Natsu said.

"Fish and… crabs?" Mira asked, "Where'd you get the crabs?"

"From the lakes of course!" Natsu said.

"Okay then. Thanks, though I don't think we'll make those tonight," Mira said.

"I know, I thought as much," Natsu said.

"Then did you by any chance pick up any sort of ice?" Mira asked.

"Nope, but I can make some," Natsu said, placing his hand on the box of crab. Ice quickly crept away from Natsu's palm and across the sides and base of the box, before small chunks of ice dropped into the box, "Now that that's done, I brought more fish and stuff."

"You can use ice magic?" Mira asked incredulously.

"Yeah, why do you ask?" Natsu asked.

"Because as far as the rest of the guild knows, you have only two types of magic," Mira said.

"And? Plenty of people have hidden magic talents, I just use mine," Natsu said, "Besides, Gildarts and Makarov know I have more magics. Not to mention, they can still think it's the same magic. It is ice dragon slayer magic of course, so as far as they know, I can still be a one-trick pony."

"Don't you mean two-trick pony? You can use crash magic!" Mira said stunned.

"Yeah and?"

"Don't you understand, not only can you use crash magic which is incredibly difficult to learn on its own due to the risk of literally blowing up parts of your body, but to be able to control it as well," Mira said.

"Well, it's not all that hard for me. A most of my slayer magics are far more volatile than the crash magic which gives me a very high level of natural resistance to things like strong magics," Natsu said nonchalantly cooking a few more of e fish and placing them on the plate.

"What do you mean most of your dragon slayer magics?" Mira asked, "I thought you only had two!"

"Did I say that?" Natsu asked. The look on Mira's face was enough, "Fuck."

"What do you mean? Why haven't you told anyone?" Mira asked.

"Well Gildarts and Makarov know I have more. He just doesn't know which ones, or all of them. Gildarts might, but he kinda got knocked out when I was using them," Natsu said, before suddenly worrying, "You're not going to tell anyone are you?"

"If you don't want me to, my lips are sealed," Mira said.

"Well thank you. It looks like we have a new issue to deal with. For the next week do you have anything going on?" Natsu asked.

"Why? And not really," Mira said.

"Okay, then we need to go somewhere, you weren't really supposed to know about it. I got it cleared for Gildarts and Igneel had said the guild master ought to know a little bit, but they had said no regular mages," Natsu said.

"Uh what?"

"Nothing. I think you need to meet someone tonight. Scrap the house thing, we can do that some other time," Natsu said.

"What do you mean Natsu? Who's this they?" Mira asked.

"Don't worry, I'll explain it all tonight. I just gotta tell someone because I technically wasn't supposed to tell you though I might be able to get away with it," Natsu said.

"We'll talk about this after dinner, but you get to get off the hook, for the moment at least. The food's ready. If you would call Elf and Evergreen into the kitchen?" Mira said more than asked.

"Alright," Natsu said, walking back into the small living area. Natsu spotted one light brown-haired woman and Elfman sitting next to each other, somewhat intimately. Natsu immediately spun on the ball of his right foot, swing the left in front of him and using it to step forward as soon as he had finished his turn. He would let them have their moment. Elfman seemed like he would be the kind to have a bit of trouble with that kinda stuff. Natsu had spun around quickly, but not before making eye contact with Elfman and winking. Excellent blackmail.

As Natsu walked into the kitchen again, he told Mira about the situation. Mira was microseconds away from rushing into the living area with a camera but Natsu had managed to grab her as she had produced the camera from… somewhere. Natsu wasn't going to question it.

"Now now Mirajane, I won't allow you to spoil their moment. How would you have felt if someone had interrupted on the boat?" Natsu asked.

"Are you saying we had an intimate moment on the boat?" Mira asked.

"Hmm? What were you saying?" Natsu asked as he produced a snack from his pocket area. Of course, a snack for Natsu was closer to a weeks' worth of food for a normal person, and that was only by draconic standards. If a human ate that much, well… Not the prettiest of things would happen after.

Mira just shook her head, "Natsu, we're about to eat. Why are you eating now?"

"I don't think you want me eating everything?" Natsu asked questioningly.

Mira sighed and nodded. She and Natsu placed everything on the table and sat down. A few minutes later, two people walked in, one looking distinctly more bashful and nervous than the other. Elfman and Evergreen sat down, and Mira served everyone. After that, everyone had free reign. At some point Natsu and Elfman had a small competition as to who could eat more. The winner was Natsu, obviously. Elfman later exclaimed that only the manliest of men could beat him, which Natsu had done constantly.

After dinner was done, Natsu and Mira cleaned up while Elfman saw Evergreen out. Thankfully, there had only been a few small incidents, most involved with Evergreen making digs at Mira about random things such as her magic or the small house. Mira had taken every comment with grace, however, closer towards the end of dinner, she donned a sickly-sweet smile and showed a different side. Natsu and Elfman wisely kept their mouths shut as shit hit the fan. After that little fight, nothing else really happened.

After everything was done, Mira went up to her room and got into something a bit more suited to go outside in. Meanwhile, Natsu and Elfman sat on the couch discussing this and that.

"Hey, so Mira said the reason Evergreen was coming over was for some thing Master had yet to announce?"

"Oh yeah!" Elfman said, "Well, Evergreen approached me a few days ago, and said that Laxus had told her something was coming up and that she was going to need a partner. And so, she chose me, like a real man!"

"She's a woman."

"A manly woman!"

"That's not a good thing. Don't let her hear you say that."

"Why not" Elfman asked curiously, "She's a true man!"

"From what I can tell of Evergreen, she wouldn't appreciate it," Natsu said shrugging, "Just saying. Oh, and can you tell me anything about her magic?"

"Why?"

"I don't like the feeling I get when I'm around Laxus or his goons for that matter, I don't trust him," Natsu said.

"She has this thing called Stone Eyes and then Fairy Magic," Elfman said, "Plus she can fly."

"She can turn people into stone then. That's a slight bit more dangerous than the other. Has she ever used it on anyone?" Natsu asked.

"Not that I could tell you of."

"Alright. Well, I hear your sister coming down, so I think it's time for me to leave. Oh, do you want some food?" Natsu asked, pulling a meat skewer out of his pocket space.

"We just ate," Elfman deadpanned.

"And? I have dragon slayer magic. My body burns off things very quickly and more efficiently so I can actually use my magic. After all, for magic to work your body and magic container have to work together to use it properly. That's why you have to learn it, because your body and container have to get used to drawing on another."

"That's not manly!"

"It's magic. It's also a testament to a takeover magic mages' skill because it requires extra work. So be proud of yourself and of Mira. If the takeovers were stronger than you, it'd kill you," Natsu said.

Elfman went silent and suddenly became very interested in the floorboards. Natsu was confused. Why would he be upset? Natsu looked around and spotted a picture. Not two. Fuck. Natsu immediately turned.

"So that's how Lisanna went down, huh?" Natsu asked. Still silent, "Look, it's in the past. From what I hear of her, she wouldn't want you to be sad about it, so why are you disrespecting the memory?"

"I wasn't strong enough," Elfman said miserably, "I shouldn't have tried."

"Bullshit. I know exactly what you faced. I killed it," Natsu said, "If you hadn't partially subdued it, it would have killed the three of you."

"You couldn't have killed it. I have its soul," Elfman said.

"You have part of it's soul. It was called the king of beasts or whatever, right? No never mind, King of monsters," Natsu said, "As the name entails, it was a king of monsters. Unfortunate, your sister was wrong when classifying it as that. It's closer to an animal demon that a plain beast. That means, you were able to take a portion of its power but not all of it because you can't utilize other take overs. You got the animal, or beast, part of the soul. The rest of it was left and took you over which is why you became out of control. It wasn't you acting, you were merely a vessel.

You inadvertently split it into two parts, demon and animal. Originally that was what it was, a more powerful Vulcan possessed by a demon. That's why it looks closer to a Vulcan than anything. The feet came from the demon itself most likely when it took over then Vulcan. In theory anyway. I stumbled across the demon half of it and slayed it."

"Does that make you a demon slayer?"

Natsu thought for a second before grinning, "I suppose it does." Elfman laughed and declared Natsu a true man. Natsu and Elfman continued to talk about random things. After a few minutes, Mira came down, cleaned up and ready to go, possibly for a fight. Natsu said farewell to Elfman and he and Mira left, but not before Mira silenced Elfman with a withering glare, causing the complaint to die in his throat.

"Elfman, would you tell Master that we might be gone for a bit?" Natsu said, "And yes. I promise."

Elfman had opened his mouth but closed it when Natsu had finished. He nodded. If Natsu could fight Gildarts, why be worried? Natsu and Mira walked out the door, Elfman seeing them out. As soon as they were out, Natsu headed off to the woods, sprinting to an undeterminable location, Mira in tow. As soon as Natsu stopped, he placed his hand up in the air and formed a small, two ring magic circle with the outer one being red while the inner one was smaller. Natsu grinned as the outer and inner ones reversed colors, with the outer now being black and the inner being red.

"Alright Mira, we just have to wait here for a bit," Natsu said.

"You still haven't explained what we're doing here," Mira said.

"You're right. So long story short, I technically wasn't supposed to tell you that I can use more than one dragon slayer magic. That's it, so I just kinda need to talk to someone about it," Natsu said as he sat down, crossing his legs and leaning against a tree.

"Is that it?" Mira asked incredulously.

"Oh no, certainly not. Do you want anything to eat?" Natsu asked as he formed a small ice blade and hurled it through the trees. A small cry was heard and a few minutes later, a small deer was brought back, the ice having formed a small band to pull the carcass along. Natsu clenched his fist and the ice disappeared, depositing the poor animal behind a tree out of sight.

"No Natsu, I do not. That was kinda cruel, don't you think?"

"Not at all really. Cut at the base of the neck or in this case, base of the skull to kill something relatively quickly and painless aside from the brief pain of the blade cutting in for a minute. Other than that, it should be fine as the brain wouldn't receive the signal as the pain gates would close in the spinal cord causing the signal not to get to the brain and therefore not allowing for as much pain as the brain wouldn't be able to interpret anything after that."

"How'd you know it was there?" Mira asked.

"Other than the fact that I could hear and smell it, I could sense the heat," Natsu said.

"Oh. Question, why aren't you affected by loud noises but can still hear things even if whispered several feet away?"

"Well, I suppose it won't matter if I tell you this, but I can somewhat manage my senses. I can close and open certain things in my body to allow different things to happen which affects my senses and body. If I wanted to increase the amount of pain felt, I wouldn't have to get punched harder, rather I'd just have to open certain passageways," Natsu said.

"Why would you do that!?" Mira exclaimed.

"Excellent incentive to train harder," Natsu said simply, "Ahh, he's almost here."

"Who's almost here?" Mira asked confused.

"Him," Natsu said, jabbing his thumb behind him before something collided with him and sent him rocketing away, crashing through a few trees.

"Natsu!" Mira cried, quickly leaping up. She tried to get to him but a large something planted itself in front of her. She quickly spun, appearing in a satan soul. She noticed the hand that covered up the sky above her, which made the thing that stopped her a claw. A claw had to come from somewhere. She was then acutely aware of two glowing eyes with yellow sclera and onyx pupils. She heard the hand behind her move but didn't try to turn and observe. Better to make no sudden movements and not get killed. If this thing wanted her dead, she would be so already. She gulped before putting her fists up, preparing to fight if the need arose, not that she would win.

"Was that necessary?" Natsu asked, emerging from the nearby brush. He quickly moved over and leaned against the claw.

"Absolutely. I wanted to test her," a deep, rumbling voice came. The leaves rustled, and a few twigs snapped. There was also the distinct sound of bones and muscles snapping and ripping. After a few seconds, a distinctly smaller figure emerged from the trees. He looked like an older version of Natsu with red hair and yellow, slitted pupils along with a pair of draconic wings and longer nails.

"Who the hell are you?" Mira asked quickly, moving back against Natsu.

"He's my dad," Natsu said.

"You're Igneel?" Mira asked cautiously, "Why'd you hit him?"

"It's how we say hello to each other. It's only been a year or two since we spent more than a day together," Igneel said chuckling, "It's good to see he's in good hands though."

"What do you mean more than a day?" Mira asked.

"Well, we're going to go somewhere for most likely the better part of a month, dragon time at least," Natsu said.

"What?"


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey guys, what's up? I'm back with another chapter to my best story. Special thanks to everyone who gave be feedback on my last authors note. So just quick bit of info, school has just started but I reworked chapter nine because I didn't like it. If you wanna go check it out, great. If not, the events that come later will be a bit different and that's why. For the most part, it'll be the same but still. Anyway, on with the chapter!**

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"Well, we're going to be gone for the better part or even the entirety of the month even," Igneel said.

"Why?" Mira asked.

"I kinda told you something I wasn't supposed to," Natsu said.

"That you had more Slayer magics?" Mira asked.

"Pretty much. He's strong as hell, but he doesn't have the brain to formulate thoughts with more than a few words at any given time," Igneel said.

"Hey! That's not true!" Natsu shouted, "I just wasn't thinking about it!"

"Like I said, doesn't have the brain," Igneel said, ignoring his adopted son.

Natsu silently fumed in the corner, small rain clouds forming above his head causing ice to rain down on him. Igneel and Mira continued to talk.

"So how long exactly, would it be in this realm?" Mira asked.

"Well, around a week I think," Igneel said, "It could be worse, could be like the celestial realm or the godly realm. The celestial realm is a month here for every day in there and the other, well, an hour there is a year."

"I suppose you're right. When do we leave?" She asked.

"Right now, I suppose. You have wings in one of those forms of yours, don't you?" Natsu asked.

"Wings? Yeah but they aren't too functional. Or, well they are but you'd have to tell me how far. I wouldn't be able to speed along if it's too long," Mira said.

"I got her, her lungs wouldn't be able to handle the combined strain, and she'd have to stay by me anyway."

"Why would I have to do that?"

"Where we're going will be in the sky, or the way to get there is at least. After that, we're going somewhere that's pretty uncomfortable for humans. I'm the only person with enough magic go get you through it all anyhow," Natsu said.

"What do you mean?"

"You'll see. Now, I'm going to need you to hop onto my back," Natsu said.

"Just carry her," Igneel smirked.

"Fine."

"Can I just get on his back?"

"He'll need to use his wings though."

"Wings? What wings?" She was going to ask more but she was interrupted by the sounds of flesh ripping and bones snapping and fixing themselves. Natsu fell to one knee as two giant wings sprouted from his back, bones ripping out of his body with small links of orange and red flames holding them together. Natsu growled in pain as his body reconstructed itself so he could fly. His muscles ripped away from his bones, attaching themselves to different parts. His ribs extended in the back, causing small spines to appear alongside each of his vertebrae which had also strengthened themselves and grown larger.

Mira could easily hear as the flesh on his back was punctured, steam pouring out of the holes. Natsu now had a solid row of bone spines along with a set of bones connected by thin strands of muscle. Mira watched in morbid fascination as Natsu's body knit itself together, the horrid sounds of agony and the revolting, nauseating vision of the man in front of her.

Finally, Natsu's transformation was done and he dropped to the floor, panting and sporting two gigantic wings. They boasted an incredible wingspan of nearly thirty feet. ( **Just a little note, that's larger than the biggest birds wingspan by nearly six feet. That wingspan belonged to the argentavis which was on average 16-29 feet with the largest being 24 feet).** His wings looked like a set of dragon wings but also had a wicked set of spines along the bones at the top of them. While they looked like dragon wings for the most part, they also gave Mira a demonic vibe as the coloration and spines set them apart from Igneel's wings.

Natsu groaned and crashed to the floor as he stood up, a light breeze sending him off his feet. Natsu flew back a few feet before a barbed tail sunk itself into the ground, rooting him in place. Black scales with red lines running around them coated the rest of his tail and back. He also had a small row of scales coating his arms. Mira noticed Natsu had a weird set of black tattoos running along his left and right arm. They banded around, looking somewhat like her own Satan souls.

Natsu groaned before flexing his muscles and drawing the wings back in.

"You never get used to it," Natsu complained.

"Maybe if you used it more often, it wouldn't be that bad. Plus you can dull your senses so why didn't you?" Igneel asked.

"Probably forgot," Mira said out of habit.

"I'd imagine you're correct," Igneel laughed.

"Haha, very funny, can we leave?" Natsu asked pointedly.

"Whenever you want to," Igneel grinned as he walked back into the underbrush, a small red dragon appearing a few seconds later. It couldn't have been much larger than Natsu.

"Hahaha you're tiny!" Natsu laughed.

"Shut up, I don't think you need everyone knowing there's a dragon here," Igneel grumbled.

Mira pointed out that Natsu was pretty damn recognizable. It was true, not many people could miss a guy with a giant pair of wings. Natsu laughed it off, nobody would see them. Mira groaned and let Natsu pick her up and they were off. Natsu unfurled his wings and was immediately blown up into the air as a light gust of wind from Igneel sent them all sky high. Natsu wasn't willing to flap his wings yet, lest he send them too high or uproot a few trees. Natsu followed Igneel who had shot up, flying through the air. Natsu sent a single strong burst of energy to his wings and they immediately rushed up several hundred feet. Natsu easily matched Igneel's pace. They flew up a several thousand feet before Natsu swore.

"We missed it, again."

"Damnit, how does this always happen?" Igneel roared in frustration.

"Maybe if you paid more attention, it wouldn't happen!" Natsu yelled back before he folded his wings back in. Natsu's momentum carried them a bit before they started to slow down. Mira gazed around, taking in the view. Quite perfect, and not just because of the clouds and soft moonlight causing everything to glow. The sight was ripped away as they started to plummet. Natsu dove straight down, the wind blowing his hair and scarf back.

Natsu waited, and waited, then waited some more. He punched a hole through a large cloud with Igneel not far behind him. Natsu laughed seeing a familiar sight. Mira opened her eyes, though she didn't quite recall closing them.

A large, sprawling expanse stretched beneath them. Mira could easily see titanic winged reptilians resting around doing whatever they pleased.

"Holy fu-" Mira's comment as ripped from her mouth as Natsu's shouted out something unintelligible to Igneel and dived towards the ground. Mira tensed as Natsu dove farther and farther towards the ground. She nearly passed out as Natsu flipped and his feet slammed into the ground, his feet basically punching holes into the ground. Natsu got about knee deep before the ground gave out and a small crater formed as the ground lost some of its structural integrity. Natsu powderized the majority of the stone around him.

Any normal person would have had their bones shatter into millions of pieces and their innards shot out of their body. Not the most pleasant of experiences. Luckily, Natsu had mind enough to toss Mira into the air before he landed. He caught her as she had come down though it was hardly noticeable to her. She probably didn't even know.

Natsu almost instantly got a fist to his gut though it didn't hurt him. Mira looked pissed and opened her mouth to say something but two of the titanic beasts had made their way over. Natsu was Mira were dwarfed by Igneel and a the other dragon. While it was smaller, it exuded power not that far from that of Igneel's own. Despite being smaller, it still towered over the two humans, or human and draganoid.

"Old man! How's it been?" Natsu shouted before the smaller dragon swatted him away with a claw, sending him across the clearing. Natsu extended his wings (which were notably smaller than before), to catch himself.

"Oi! What the hell geezer? It's been several years since I've seen you and that's how you say hi?" Natsu yelled indignantly. Again he was ignored. Natsu flapped his wings and rocketed straight at the offending dragon. Natsu growled before ripping his first back and smashing it into the small dragon's face. Said dragon was cleanly lifted off its feet and sprawled on its back. Mira's and Igneel's jaws dropped seeing it. While Igneel knew his son had strength a good many times stronger than most, he had just watched a man in a twenty-one-year-old body send several tons of dragon straight into the air, all with one punch. As for Mira, she'd never seen anything like it.

"Damn, Brat. Someone's been training," the dragon said.

"Definitely have!" Natsu grinned, "When's our next spar by the way?"

"You and your fighting," the dragon said, "let this bag of bones rest a bit."

"Oh please, you got another few hundred years in you before you start feeling it," a larger, metallic dragon spoke up from behind the first.

"Metallicana, it's been a hot minute," Natsu grinned, "you'll be happy to know, I whooped Gajeel's ass."

"With a punch like under, I'd imagine as much. Probably broke the damn guildhall too," Metallicana said. Natsu chuckled sheepishly, thinking about the destroyed guild Hall.

"That hurt you know," the smaller dragon said.

"Oh well, next time don't ignore me!" Natsu shouted.

"I suppose that's fair," he said.

"And don't act like it hurt that much! It's not like it caused any permanent damage, you're not that old yet!" Natsu said.

"Yeah, you could be like him back there," Metallica said swiping his tail in a large cave's direction. It also served to cuff Natsu in the back of the head as the tail came full circle. Natsu laughed and stopped the tail, redirecting it with one hand. Despite redistributing the majority of the force, Natsu still slid back several feet with his feet sinking into the ground, leaving deep gouges. Natsu, to his own credit, was able to stand up perfectly straight, even when he got hit.

"Gonna have to try harder than that Tin Can! You must be getting old!" Natsu grinned and threw his arms back behind his head. He hadn't been here in nearly three years so it was fun to catch up with people, or ya know, dragons. It was fun regardless. Natsu was quite enjoying himself while Mira stood awkwardly to the side and Igneel caught up with some friends. Natsu didn't really notice, but he never did so Mira wasn't surprised.

Natsu was animatedly talking to several of the larger dragons when a distinctly smaller one dropped onto the ground almost silently next to Mira. She wasn't concerned but it was still frightening. Despite being a few times smaller than their counterparts, it still probably weighed a few tons. If it hadn't seen her, she would have been smashed like a bug. None of the other dragons seemed to notice the newcomer and the newcomer didn't appear to care. If anything, it was staring more intently at Mira than anyone. Said mage gulped loudly.

Mira stared back, swallowing, or trying to at least, any fear that she felt. Dragons would respect that right? Maybe? Natsu seemed to though there wasn't anyone around that could give him a challenge. Mira wasn't sure whether to feel uncomfortable or just plain worried. This dragon had been standing here for the better part of a few minutes now. Mira glanced around and saw no help from Natsu as he was busy fighting someone.

It spoke soon after, and Mira assumed it was male given the slightly higher yet gravelly voice. It, or he introduced himself as a younger dragon, only recently reaching the first stage of adulthood. Mira gave him a blank look in the hopes that he might understand that she had no idea what that was. Suddenly, a rather large spear of metal landed right next to them. Luckily it hadn't killed anyone, but it had come quite close to skewering the young dragon.

"Why are you talking to me?" Mira asked bluntly though not impolitely.

"I was wondering why you were here. New dragon slayer I figured. Also gives me a chance, I just have to wait honestly," he said.

"Chance at what?"

"Well, you'll eventually be a dragon, right? Well that means I have a chance with you. Being the strongest of the brood means I get my choice of mates, and I want to choose you," he said.

A flaming figure came rushing and slammed its fist into the young dragon's face, successfully sending the young dragon tumbling back several hundred feet .

"Like hell asshole!" Natsu yelled before immediately following and speaking a language Mirajane knew nothing about. It was very harsh and loud, basically roars honestly. Natsu roared once more and the young dragon roared back, though not nearly as loudly. Natsu stood stiff, quickly straightening his body before bending his body at the waist into a deep bow, 60 degree. Natsu waited and waited and he seemed to be searching for something from the other dragon. Nothing happened for a solid five minutes until the younger dragon rushed forward and tried to strike the young man. Natsu growled and flipped his body, planting his feet into the dragon's head, sending it rocketing into the ground. Natsu waited.

The dragon stumbled up and roared again before rushing forward. Natsu closed his eyes and breathed out, long streams of white smoke pouring off od his body. The younger dragons neared him, flying as fast as his wings would push him. Natsu's eyes snapped open as soon as the dragon was close. Natsu nailed him on the underside of the jaw with a fierce uppercut. The younger dragon was sent barreling off into the sky, sent flying once more. Natsu glanced around. All heads were turned towards them. Fights were common, but contrary to popular belief, Natsu rarely fought the younger dragons. It was obvious why. Natsu hadn't taken a single hit and had hardly moved other than to deliver the one kick.

Natsu was pissed. To think one of their own would so casually forget tradition due to anger. Even Acnologia had respected it, not forgetting his backgrounds. Natsu glanced over to Igneel who stood impassively along with the other dragons who had slayers. Natsu searched Igneel's eyes for a moment longer, finding the familiar glint in them. Natsu silently questioned him. Igneel sent a slight nod before closing his eyes and laying down on the ground. A few of the other dragons looked over at him but the ones that knew simply shrugged and kept watching. Natsu noticed he had received the rapt attention o the younger of the brood as they rarely were able to witness real fights.

r Natsu glanced over to Mira as he sidestepped the dragons punch, casually dancing around the blow and redirecting it away from himself. He couldn't read her face. Her eyes were shadowed by her bangs which were normally put up using a small hair tie. Natsu glanced lower, towards her mouth. He could have sworn he saw the faintest of smiles on her face. Natsu silently wondered to himself, ducking under another blow and sending it back into the younger dragon's face as it had overextended its arm and put too much momentum into the punch, leaving it open as it tried to land a solid blow.

Natsu looked around, seeing the opinions of everyone else. The fire dragons around, with one in particular looking none too pleased. Natsu felt the intake of breath and let the bellowed fire consume his body. Natsu smirked and looked up. While the other dragons couldn't see anything but a silhouette, the younger one got the distinct view of a set of glowing red eyes staring at him. Natsu chuckled to himself as he slurped up the fire. Of course the younger dragon probably wouldn't have known he was a fire dragon slayer. The youngling most likely wasn't adept enough for the use of it. Natsu finished eating the fire as the dragon had to take another breath. Natsu exhaled, fire billowing out of his mouth.

Natsu glared up at the dragon up in the sky above him as it beat its wings. It roared. Natsu laughed and roared back, dwarfing out the sound of the youngling. Natsu was bored at this point.

Natsu looked back at Igneel once more and the he nodded. Natsu paused for a moment, was the younger dragon just that impulsive? All of the fire dragons knew that it was a slayer that was prince. Strange. It was either ignorance or impulsiveness, or it could be pure stupidity. All dragons could eat their own element, so long as it wasn't theirs. Maybe he thought it didn't apply to slayers? Natsu held up his hand and caught the giant flaming fist. Natsu wasn't at all concerned as his feet went into the ground, sinking to his knees under the force of the fist. Natsu laughed and stepped out of his little hole. As soon as he was done, he batted the fist away and the youngling was sent barreling face first towards him as his momentum was no longer being stopped. Natsu swung his arm in a left hook, battering the young dragon in the face. The dragon shot off to the side, toppling through the air before crashing against a tree. Natsu growled and simply hopped out of the way of a large fireball, a small trail of fire leaking out of his own mouth. Natsu roared, a giant stream of flames engulfing the dragon entirely and the hundred feet radius around him as well.

Natsu bowed once more and walked away. The flame cleared and there was one very toasty, and of course the irony wasn't lost on Natsu, fire dragon. Natsu chuckled to himself as he walked over to Mira.

"What as your deal?" Mira asked.

"Uhhh well…" Natsu began. Fuck, Natsu was going to have to think on his feet, "Well first off, he disrespected what is basically our dragon code. We can't have that because that's exactly how Acnologia became what he is today. Second, it's extremely rude to do that to anyone, a dragon taboo almost. Mates, if you recall, aren't forced into a bond, rather they can reject or accept it through the use of a personalized mark."

"Seems reasonable," Mira after a moment and dropping her contemplative look. Natsu knew he wasn't quite off the hook yet. She was still suspicious of something, he just didn't know what. Of course, what he had said held a lot more truth than most realized. Natsu was one of the lucky few who understood what it was like. Power corrupts, quite easily honestly. Dragons were feared for a reason, they had power in spades. It was thus that the dragon culture was developed to try and keep a hold on the true danger of their power. It kept them in tune with their magic, made sure they knew what they were doing with it, and tempering their own beliefs as well. It helped keep respect. Bowing put people in a very dangerous position, the deeper the bow, the harder it was to defend themselves.

Regardless, Mira had dropped it and so would Natsu. Natsu cracked his signature grin, his sharp teeth on full display.

"So, I suppose it is time to go, isn't it?" Natsu asked.

"Agreed, we have places to be," Igneel said as he walked up and batted his son across the head.

"What was that for!?" Natsu yelled.

"Well, you did just burn a dragon to a crisp," Mira supplied helpfully.

"I like her," Igneel said, "She's strong and also smart. Unfortunately, you're only one of those."

"Hey! That's not fair!" Natsu yelled.

"Who cares? Besides, it's time to go. I don't suppose you're fire resistant?" Igneel asked, turning to the platinum blonde.

"Unfortunately not, I'm no fire dragon," Mira said.

"That sucks," Natsu said, "Oh well, looks like you're stuck with me for the next little bit that you're here."

"Why?" Mira asked, somewhat irate.

"I'm pretty certain you don't want to be deep fried extra crispy from the inside out?" Natsu asked, "You would be cooked as your blood boiled and caused you to swell like a balloon. In all honesty, it would have probably happened four or five terms. Blood boils at around one hundred degrees ( **Note: Celsius, at 1 atm or standard atmospheric pressure** ) and the ambient temperature is like a thousand or so degrees? Plus we kinda take baths in lava because some of us either boil off the water when it touches us or we use lava out of convenience, burns that junk right off."

"Oh yes, that sounds amazing," Mira said sarcastically, "Just what I wanted. Though I do suppose it could be worse. I'd rather not be dead, ya know?"

"Yep!"

"It was a rhetorical question."

"Shut up! I knew that!"

"Sure you did, sure you did."

"Totally did."

"Excuse me you two, but if we could be off, that'd be great."

"Stay out of it!"

"You brat! I'll knock you into next year!"

"Try it!"

"And here I thought we might get something done today," Mira said quietly. Of course she somewhat forgot that they had super hearing.

"It's not my fault!" They both yelled before glaring at one another, "It was his fault! NO SHUT UP IT WAS TOTALLY YOUR FAULT! STOP COPYING ME DAMNIT!"

"I swear you're both five years old," Mira deadpanned.

"It's him!" They whined.

"Don't care, let's go!" Mira glowered.

Natsu and surprisingly Igneel pacified. Most of the other dragons silently, (and also not so silently) gaped. Some human just did something the strongest of dragons couldn't do. Natsu and Mira said a few quick words before Igneel took off, roaring a goodbye and telling the duo that he'd meet them at lunchtime. Natsu quickly asked Mira something which she nodded to. Natsu waited a few seconds and the duo was enveloped in his wings. A brief flash of light and a snapping cracking sound later, they were in a lavishly furnished room, largely containing red and gold hues along with a good amount of black trim. It seemed like somewhat of an off combination, creating a rather dark and dreary room, but it seemed to work, the natural light in the room seemed to make everything glow in a softer tone than it actually was. Natsu grinned and ran up to a giant tree that had grown through the floor and went up into the ceiling. Upon closer inspection, Mira noticed that the tree branches actually formed the majority of the ceiling.

"Natsu, the tree?"

"Oh yeah, it was a gift from a friend. I think he said to put it outside in the garden but I forgot about it and here we are now a few hundred years later, ya know? It just kinda happens sometimes," Natsu grinned as he jumped through the branches. The room was easily large enough for him to do that so it wasn't like he was cramming himself in small areas or smashing holes in what was effectively their roof.

"A giant tree grows in your room and stands in as your roof?" Mira asked to which Natsu simply nodded vigorously, "And wait just a second, what do you mean hundreds of years?"

"Oh did you forget? I'm like four hundred and thirty-six. So yeah, this body that you see is at least eighty," Natsu said.

"For someone who should be dead a few times over, you've aged extremely well," Mira said as she poked Natsu's chest a bit.

"Why thank you, I fight a lot."

"I do hope you realize that doesn't explain it but sure."


	13. Chapter 13

**Hey guys, I'm back again for what's basically my monthly update. Yay. I've been looking back at my work and shit it's bad. I'm rewriting it a bit so yeah. Feel free to check it out. No major changes, just things I don't like or that don't quite fit. Anyway, I'll tell you in the notes when I do. Also, shorter, slightly heavier chapter. Just saying.**

* * *

Natsu chuckled to himself. He knew that him fighting a lot didn't make a difference. If anything, he should have been dead faster than anything but who was he to complain? Natsu plopped himself down on the floor, arms behind his head in his own signature fashion. Natsu waited a few seconds before the silence hit him. The sound of two heartbeats and two sets of breaths. Natsu cracked his eyes open and saw that Mirajane was looking at a picture that he had. Natsu remembered taking it with a spare lacrima camera Igneel had said he had. Natsu knew, however, that Igneel had used it for years as Natsu had one day found it laying around and looked through pictures of himself. Natsu had seen a good many things, mainly himself though. Natsu had only truly cared for three pictures in that album.

There was one that was taken on his first day with Igneel. It was Natsu sitting curled up right next to Igneel, sitting right on his arm and leaning against his face. Damn Igneel was humungous, even for a dragon. Natsu distinctly remembered the warmth from that day. It had been his first day training out in the forest that would become the one surrounding Magnolia. Natsu chuckled as he thought back. Oh how eager he'd been to learn slayer magic, or just magic in general. It had been far simpler back then, but he wouldn't trade his life for it, no matter how much he enjoyed it.

The next one had been him and all of his teachers, Igneel included. Natsu was sitting atop Igneel's head, fully grown at the ripe age of twenty. Natsu was surrounded by several other dragons of varying sizes and colors. There was one titanic dragon behind himself and Igneel, but otherwise they were all next to him. Natsu sat wearing a small necklace of several different shrunken scales on a black chain which had been custom made by the metal dragons for him specifically. It might have been a small necklace but Natsu had had the brightest and biggest of grins plastered on his face. It had been quite infectious on that certain day, and if you've never seen a dragon smile, it's a sight to behold. It also happened to be the one that Mira was looking at.

The last one, and the one that she would have been most confused by, was the picture of a man about the same height Natsu was now, holding a child version of Natsu in his hands, onyx eyes glinting from underneath the mop of black hair. He had worn largely black and white with a pair of sandals with red accents on them. Natsu had later found out it was his brother, after asking Igneel about it. Igneel had been upset at first, but then later came to reveal that it had been his brother. Natsu had asked if he had abandoned him but Natsu was able to answer that himself whence he stumbled upon his brother in the middle of a forest. He had brought him back to life and told him to wait a few years before trying to kill him. Natsu had been horrified as there was no way he would kill his only blood relative.

Natsu had instinctively ran up to give his brother a hug, given that Natsu was only about seven. Natsu had no way of knowing that it could hurt him. Natsu had remembered being engulfed in black energy and had passed out. He had then woken up minutes later and suddenly had odd marking in his arms and also large horns so that was a thing apparently. Natsu wasn't entirely sure what had happened, and he didn't find out until a few days later. Zeref had cried and ran so Natsu vowed to find a way to get to him. He had promised that he would get one last picture with Zeref before he left but a certain dragon interfered with that.

Natsu had quite nearly broken down. His family was everything to him, and to have an important opportunity like that torn away had taken a mental toll on him. It sucked to have it happen. He had to leave his only family. But it was okay, Natsu knew that he would find Zeref again. Wasn't sure when but it'd happen at some point.

Natsu's mind snapped back from his thoughts and looked over to his guest. Natsu grinned to himself as she never ceased to amaze him, sometimes with her beauty, but more often than not, with her personality. Natsu grinned to himself as she tapped something and it zapped her.

"Ha ha very funny Natsu. What is this?"

"A lacrima. Keeps snoopers out of my business, you know?"

"Fuck you."

"Hey! Not my fault that you're looking through my stuff," Natsu said cheekily.

"I'm sure you don't mind, Natsu. Why invite me here anyway?"

"So you don't die?" Natsu asked rhetorically.

"Ah if I don't have to put up with you any more, I'll happily die," Mira said.

"Aww that's sad. Whiskey?" Natsu asked, producing a large bottle from nowhere.

"Where did you get that?"

"You know Erza's requip? I have a slightly different version of that magic. Just a generalized pocket space. I can offer you something else, wine?"

"Alcohol isn't my thing," Mirajane said.

"Bullshit! You drink stronger things than most everyone in the guild. You could outdrink Gildarts! Maybe not Cana but certainly her old man!"

"And how would you know that?"

"I can smell everything for a mile at my all time low," Natsu said, tapping his nose, "At best, I could probably smell something from fifty miles?"

"What?"

"I can hear heartbeats too, from like across a good distance, plus I can literally see through things if it has large enough spaces."

"Like people's clothes?"

"That's more Gildarts' thing but sure?"

"You did travel with him for a while so I wouldn't be surprised if you picked up his habits too," Mira said.

"Nah, there was the one time he grabbed my bag on accident and I took his, but it was full of gross pictures of naked people or whatever," Natsu said, rubbing the back of his head.

"And what was in your bag?"

"I'll give you two guesses," Natsu said, "It shouldn't be that hard."

"Food and food?" Mira said.

"And the money goes to the beautiful woman with the white hair!" Natsu shouted.

"Shut up."

Natsu cracked a wide grin and flopped down onto the ground. A few words were passed as they talked and the two eventually went their separate ways for a little bit. Natsu was in the lava tub and Mira was struggling a bit with the almost boiling water that came from the only normal shower in the entirety of the land. Luckily, Natsu had been human before hand and had needed a regular shower.

Natsu chuckled to himself hearing the little yelps from around across the room. Natsu grinned, if he didn't do something, they weren't going to get anywhere on time. Natsu hopped out of the lava, a towel covering him up. Natsu walked out of the room and went to his dresser. He'd need water clothes basically. Where was the nearest lake again? Water dragon's place. How far was that? Natsu grinned to himself, he'd have a reason to move around quickly for the first time in a long while. Natsu narrowed his eyes as an odd thought popped into his mind. Would they be at his little hearing? Was it even important enough to show up for?

Ah what did he care? Natsu chuckled to himself once more as Mirajane loudly shouted profanities from the other room. For a room that was more or less meant to keep all out sound, or keep it in for that matter, it wasn't all that surprising to hear Mira shouting. Natsu flopped down on his bed and ran a hand through his spikey locks. She'd come out at some point, so he might as well nap a bit. He hoped this damn meeting wouldn't be as troublesome as they normally were.

Natsu let his eyes close and the land of unconscious claim him. He didn't wake until a particularly upset Mirajane came barging in. Mirajane could not, for the life of her, wake the sleeping dragon slayer up. Mira splashed some water on his face, or she would have, but it evaporated an inch away from his face. She shouted, and she poked him, and even tried to hit him with a pillow. Maybe a pillow is too soft she had thought to herself, a rock seems good she had thought to herself. So, for the past two and a half minutes, she'd been hitting the mage with a rock the size of his head. Nothing.

"Okay, now what's a Natsu thing to do in this situation, what would he do?" Mira asked herself aloud. Igneel had stumbled in the room at some point and had decided to sit in the corner, somehow completely hidden. "FOOD! HE NEEDS FOOD!" Mira had shouted. Mira had spun around, looking for the kitchen they had walked past and instead, ran straight into the chest of a large man with red hair and yellow eyes. Mira did what was natural, kicked him in the balls and screamed, immediately flipping into a take-over. The person Mira now recognized as most likely Igneel dropped the floor and yelled in pain. Oof. Natsu had awoken in a flash and appeared between the two, body alight and eyes blank. Of course that would wake him up, he was always itching for a fight. Of course, unbeknownst to her, it was for a different reason.

"Dad why are you on the floor?" Natsu asked as he took in his surroundings and let his flames burn out. Natsu cocked his head to the side and rubbed it slightly. Had something happened?

"That… That…" Igneel wheezed as he clutched his family jewels, "Oh lord the pain."

"Mira?"

Mira gave Natsu a blank stare and twiddled her fingers a bit before trying to explain, "Well uh, you see… I was trying to uh wake you up," Mira paused before cringing and making some exaggerated hand gestures as if trying to explain. Her mouth opened and closed as she struggled to explain.

"Well? Exceed got your tongue?"

"I… well… I as trying to, you know, wake you up and stuff and I know that you really like food and stuff… so I thought about it and went to go get you some but I kinda maybe definitely ran into your dad…" Mira said, using her hands to try and help demonstrate before shaking her head and cringing a bit more, "Well… I kicked him in the balls."

"Come again?"

"I kicked Igneel in the balls."

Natsu burst out in boisterous laughter as a small amount of flames came out of his mouth. Mira surveyed her rather unfortunate situation, Igneel (NATSU'S DAD) was on his knees groaning in pain, and Natsu… Well, Natsu was being Natsu and was rolling on the floor laughing.

"You just kicked the king of all fire dragons in the balls! And even better, you're still alive! Oh man that's hilarious!" Natsu roared before flopping back down onto the floor and laughing more, "How does it feel Dad?"

"Shut the hell up you little brat," Igneel growled before turning to Mirajane, "You have one hell of a kick, but – oh it hurts so bad – if you could not use that on me?"

"Hahahahahaha! You got kicked in the balls!" Natsu yelled before being punched through a wall.

"Shut up!"

"Why were you even in my room?"

"Well, I had been coming to get you guys from your room and stuff but then I saw the she-devil," Igneel said as gestured to Mirajane, "trying to wake you up with various different… what's the word? Uhhhhh…"

"Styles?"

"No, Natsu, not styles. Your dad probably means methods," Mira joked.

"AH HAH! That's what it is! Methods. She must be a genius," Igneel said.

"Mirajane? How cou-" Natsu said before feeling shivers run down his spine. Oh if looks could kill he'd have been dropped down a fifty story building head first then cut in half and stomped on then placed a few thousand feet underwater, dropped from a mountain, and then slowly get eaten by animals for a few hours before being shot into space.

"No, finish."

"Natsu, rule two W," Igneel whispered. Natsu proceeded to disappear. He wouldn't come back for another two hours, thirteen minutes, and forty-two second. He wasn't sure exactly how long it had been so he wasn't surprised when they were gone. Natsu used his incredible sense of smell to locate them. Natsu yelled and ran down the hall to the kitchen where he found the two having an eating competition. Those fuckers!

"Hey what gives man!?" Natsu shouted, "Why didn't you tell me!?"

"You didn't show up," Mira said grumpily.

"How was I going to know you guys would be eating?"

"You could have smelt it since you were still in the castle."

"I was in Alvarez."

"I'm sorry, how?"

"Skill?"

"Shut up," Igneel said to Natsu before turning to Mira, "He probably used that warping spell of his or whatever."

"Oh," Mira said, suddenly feeling a bit queasy as she recalled that particular spell, "If he wants to put himself through it, sure."

"It's honestly not that bad, Mirajane. You just have to get over it," Natsu said.

"No thank you, you don't know what you're talking about, it's not great," Igneel said.

"Yeah!" Mira said, "What he said!"

Natsu sat there, flabbergasted. What did they mean? How could they not understand, it was literally one of the simplest spells he'd ever learned.

"BULLSHIT!" Natsu yelled, floundering his arms, "I'll show you both right now!"

Natsu proceeded to lunge forward and grabbed both of them before the trio disappeared through a magic circle as Natsu tossed the two in and hopped in right after. Natsu promptly threw himself to the floor to avoid getting splattered by Igneel's semi-digested lunch. Natsu was aghast!

"What the hell, Dad!?"

"Shut up," Igneel said before shuddering and expelling more food.

"Disgusting," Natsu said. Mira wasn't fairing much better, but she wasn't doubled over, expelling the contents of her stomach all over the floor. Natsu suddenly felt quite guilty for what he'd done, "Shit, I'm sorry guys. I wasn't really thinking that I've used the spell several thousand times more than you have. I'm sorry."

"Holy shit, he's actually apologizing!" Igneel said astonished, "What did you do to him?"

"I know, she's amazing. She kicked the fire dragon king in the balls, and she managed to get me to apologize," Natsu chuckled.

"Is that uncommon?"

"Yep."

"Absolutely."

Mira looked at the two of them for a second. She blinked before starting, "Huh, he normally does that for me though?"

"What's that?" Igneel asked as if he wasn't able to hear her heartbeat from twenty feet away, "Natsu, Natsu Dragneel, my son, bother of Zeref, killer of dragons apologized… to you?"

"Yeah?"

"Hey hey Natsu, looks like we know one!" Igneel grinned, proceeding to slide across the floor nudge his foster son in the gut.

"Shut up okay?" Natsu roared.

"Nope. Not a chance! You're finally growing up," Igneel laughed.

"Shut up!"

"Uhhh," Mira cut in, rubbing her head, "Is that… Special? Exactly?"

"Oh absolutely, it's unheard of!" Igneel grinned.

"Strange," Mira said.

"Okay enough of that," Natsu said, glancing up towards the ceiling, "we have places to be in about fifteen minutes."

"Do we now?" Igneel asked.

"Unfortunately," Natsu grimaced.

"Where are we now?" Mira asked as she looked around, trying to find anything to indicate where they were.

"I moved us like twenty feet to right outside the wall," Natsu laughed.

"I don't care if it's twenty or two million, no thank you," Mira said.

Igneel chimed in, "I must agree with the she-devil."

"Fuck off, her name is Mira," Natsu said, "and it takes a few minutes to get to where we need to be so why don't we meet you there Igneel. I'm going to get Mirajane something suitable to wear, just incase we have to be in different rooms."

"Of course." With that, Igneel glowed bright white before the humanoid version of himself was replaced with a crimson dragon. Igneel beat his wings and flew off. Natsu and Mira looked at each other, deciding to head inside. A few words were spoken between the two, but they mainly moved around with quiet purposefulness. It was by no means uncomfortable as the two were fairly familiar with it.

Natsu rummaged through a chest of something that Mira couldn't quite see into. Mira glanced around the room, staring at the other features of the room. For the most part, she had focused on the oddities of the room rather than the simplicities and intricacies. She was pleasantly surprised to find that Natsu had a fairly well decorated room, paintings of various items, nice furniture. Most rooms of this size would normally feel oddly formal or lonely even, but Natsu had plenty of things to make it seem very well lived in and homey. It was filled with carious knickknacks and small items Natsu had acquired over the years.

The one thing that caught her attention though, was the picture of a young child with a mop of spikey, salmon hair, and an older man with black hair and white-black robes. She'd seen him somewhere. She'd seen him in a book or something. There was something unsettling in this painting which was odd as both seemingly exuded happiness as they stood by each other. Mirajane couldn't quite place it but she was off put by the taller man. She wasn't sure why, but she felt as if something was off.

She would have continued along that path of thinking, but a dress smacked her in the face, courtesy of one fire dragon slayer.

"Hey!" Mira shouted, "what was that for? And what is this for?"

In her hands, she held a scaly looking dress. Despite the rough look, it happened to be quite soft and comfortable. It was black but otherwise had red trimming and lace coming out of the back and around the waist. It was a nice, simple dress. It appeared to be more flattering as everything looked a bit on the smaller size.

"Clothes. Change into them in case we are separated. It should keep you safe."

Mira rolled her eyes and walked into that bathroom and started to change. Her thoughts naturally drifted for the few free moments she had, shifting from thoughts of her upcoming meeting with the dragon council and over to the picture she had seen earlier.

She knew she recognized him form somewhere but she just couldn't place her. She fixed her dress a bit and resolved to ask Natsu about it, though she wasn't sure he'd answer in all honesty. Most of the time, Natsu didn't talk about much until someone asked him about it. In all honesty though, it seemed as if though he was always the one who would initiate any conversation with the guild. He had a certain aura that seemed to scare people away from him. Mira couldn't understand it as she was always pretty comfortable around him. She had been comfortable enough to fall asleep next to him (and on him once) on multiple occasions and that was something she had trouble doing around even members of the guild.

Mirajane Strauss, in a way, was able to relate to Natsu. Nobody ever wanted to talk to her, they were all too afraid to get to know her. She was too scary, capable of taking on mages twice her age with ease. She was one of the most powerful mages in the guild despite being only thirteen. Once again, same as Natsu, she was widely feared by everyone with the exception of some five odd mages. Master Makarov, Erza, Gildarts, Lissana, and Elfman.

It was a lonely life, nobody had wanted to get closer to her till she got out of the "demon phase". Nobody was ever willing to comment on her beauty till after, nobody was interested until after. Nobody except her family, and Erza. Erza was a sister to her; Mirajane loved her. She was the closest thing Mirajane had to a friend. The duo, despite constant quarreling, were closer than most people were, bonding on the shared tragedies of their past. Erza was a slave and lost an eye, then was treated like an outcast. Mirajane got beaten by her town because they thought she was a demon, having her home burned and attacked more times than they could count.

People, Mirajane thought, were selfish, through and though. There, however, was a point at which people learned and it was possible to transcend the evils of their humanity. Natsu was a perfect example. He'd thrown his life into protecting an entire race, thrown his life on the line to protect a random stranger, and from what she gathered, he was throwing a different aspect of his life on the line just for her. There were many people who were surrounded by evils growing up.

Mira shook her head and continued along her train of thought as she opened the door and slipped out. She was greeted by a sight of a pink headed slayer, hunched over the small lacrima camera, looking far older than he should. Natsu's salmon hair appeared to fall downward, more affected by gravity than normal, losing it's natural sheen. Natsu's face was shadowed by his hair, hanging over his head, covering the onyx eyes. Mirajane walked over and sat down, sitting next to him as he looked over the small screen.

Natsu stood up abruptly, muttering that they should leave. Mira was taken aback. He never spoke to her that way. She wouldn't pry, for the moment at least. Moment they got back though, she was going down the rabbit hole, no matter how deep it went.

Mira let Natsu grab hold of her shoulder and teleport them to where they needed to be. She hardly registered the first five minutes. She wasn't entirely sure what was going to happen, but she sure as hell wasn't going to go down peacefully. This time, she wasn't sure if she could count on anyone else though. Nobody else was here but Igneel and Natsu. Igneel was a king. He had to do what was best for everyone. Natsu, well… Natsu was a different story, he was among his people now, his peers, his friends. He'd grown up with them, would he really throw all of it away just for some girl that he'd known less than half a year?

Her thoughts continued along a similar train until Natsu grabbed her hand and squeezed it gently. It might have been plutonic for him, but it sent shivers up her spine. She wasn't sure if they were good or bad.

"I got your back, Mira," Natsu said, "You'll make it out of this unscathed."

"Think we can take them all?" Mirajane asked, glancing around.

Natsu chuckled fondly, thinking of their encounter with the wizard saints, "I dunno, and I'm not sure I want to find out, but I promise you. Nothing bad will ever happen to you while you're with me. If I have to fight every dragon int the world, all at once, so be it. I'll never let you get hurt, got it?"

"Thank you, Natsu."

They were definitely good shivers.


	14. Chapter 14

**I literally started this a minute or two after I published the first chapter this month. If I'm good with this one, it'll be out by the end of the month and you guys will get a second chapter in a month that's decently long. So far, the story has gone pretty well in my opinion, but I think it's time for me to start my own story line after a few more arcs. I don't think anyone else has personally gone this route, so I do hope this one is completely original. Hopefully it is and hopefully it doesn't disappoint. It'll most likely happen during the S-class trials and everything should take a turn there. GMG is still on the table, though I think I need something to happen during it, I'm just not sure what it'll be yet.**

* * *

"Crown Prince of Dragons, Natsu Dragneel, please step forward," a large white dragon spoke. Natsu proceeded to do just that, "it has come to our attention that you have given away a secret of the dragons. Unfortunately, we are not quite sure what happened so would you care to explain?"

"Uhhh suuuuuure," Natsu blinked, "Well, I was over at someone's place and I accidentally let it slip that I had more than the fire dragon slayer magic?"

"Is that it?"

"Pretty sure," Natsu said, "Mirajane?"

The platinum blonde nodded but didn't say anything. Several heads whipped in her direction, however. Had they not noticed her? Mirajane was almost worried but she felt a spike of magic and watched all of the heads in the room to turn to Natsu.

"Eyes over here guys," Natsu said, almost growling, "What do you wish to do about my slip?"

The council proceeded to rush back to deliberation, growling in their draconic language. Natsu remained impassive, though he would twitch every so often and glance over his shoulder. The dragons' deliberation must have taken about five minutes. From what Mirajane knew about the human council, it took many hours, even days or weeks to make a single decision, and yet, the dragons, were able to make one in about five minutes.

"Crown Prince, we have an issue."

Natsu chuckled, "I can't do anything about it, it's my trial!"

"Oh, you are correct. Regardless, it would seem that we are mostly split on letting you off the hook and having someone eat her. There is the argument that she could possibly leak all of our information, letting possible enemies know about our strongest warrior's weaknesses. At the same time, she would not be the first to know of your abilities, we had advised you to tell your guildmaster what you could do just in case something happened.

At the moment, we have no way of telling you what your sentence would be," a larger, black dragon spoke.

"Most of us are split and the others just don't care because they think it's somewhat of a pointless trial, or this particular question is somewhat pointless," the dragon before mentioned.

"Is there really no way to decide? I don't see what the point is? Who's he going to tell, Ankhseram? That bastard knows most of my tricks as well. I don't see the point," Natsu said. Similar arguments had been made as to why this was pointless but none the less, the deliberation continued. Natsu sat down and flopped back on the ground. Nothing was happening.

"I see you have an issue that you can't seem to resolve. Allow me," said a muscular young man with long, dark blue colored hair. He had a sharp gaze; his eyes had black circles around them. He was a bit more dark-skinned, darker than most people in Fiore hinting something about his past. He had a high collared, black cloak, sharp white claws around his neck, a sash around his waist, a gold arm ring tightened around his right upper arm, as well as baggy pants that were tattered and destroyed at the bottoms, stopping just under his knees.

"Acnologia."

"Natsu."

"Feeling any better?" they both asked.

Natsu appeared to be glowing bright red while Acnologia glowed a duller blue color, power radiating off the both of them in waves. Natsu straightened his back and smiled, matching Acnologia's. Neither were true, it didn't reach either of their eyes. The two took a few steps forward, matching each other, both step for step and in power. There was silence until the two broke out into laughter. Natsu and the new man, the dragon of apocalypse walked over and shook hands. Was that supposed to happen? Were they friends or something? The two proceeded to stand and glare at each other before both simultaneously punching the other in the face. Both were blasted back a few feet, gouging deep trails into the hard earth, though oddly enough, the supposed strongest being in the world had been pushed back a tad bit farther. Both stood up, surveying where they stood. Neither moved from their new spots.

"Impressive. You've gotten stronger brat," Acnologia spoke.

"You as well," Natsu replied easily.

Something was amiss, was this normal? Surely not! Was it because they both knew they couldn't beat each other or was it something else. Was the most dangerous being on the planet passive unless provoked. It would seem about right, it had been said that Acnologia could be the ruler of the world if he so desired yet for some reason, he remained reclusive. He was considered to have unlimited power yet he sat around and did absolutely nothing all the time.

Mira was at a loss for words. This was just another thing that she needed to ask Natsu about. Or Igneel if she saw him at some point. What was even going on? From what she had heard about Acnologia from Natsu, was that they were pretty much at each other's throats pretty much any time they met. What was going on?

"I think you should let her live," Acnologia said as he pointed at Mirajane.

The platinum blonde in question sputtered and looked frightened, "Whaa?"

"Why would we do that?" a dragon in the back spoke up.

"Because Invroth," Acnologia said, "I'm sure you can smell her?"

"What?" The dragon now addressed as Invroth asked.

"Well, it's faint, sure but I'm sure you can smell… that… on her," Acnologia said as he smirked at Natsu and winked at Natsu.

Natsu saw the look of confusion and a bit of horror and decided that he should most likely tell her. He resolved to bring it up later if she didn't first. Natsu wasn't worried, rather concerned. He tried to rationalize the use of the two words in his head, but he knew it wouldn't make a whole lot of sense to other people despite; Natsu had always thought more abstractly than most. He had started thinking that way to get an extra edge over opponents as it would make him unpredictable. Eventually, he had just started thinking that way in general.

"Come on! Are telling me that none of you can smell it?"

"I prefer to use my own actions to speak because that way there are options and I'm not limiting them. I don't have the right to do that," Natsu said, "You can smell it because you have one of the strongest senses of smell known to dragons."

"One of?"

"Don't be that old man, I can match you!"

"Like hell!"

"Let's go then!"

"Happily!"

"Break it up you two!" several of the dragons shouted.

"But he started it!" They both said antagonistically, jabbing fingers in each other's direction.

"Look, since you fools can't seem to smell it, a…" Acnologia said as a cruel smile, "demonstration will be required."

"What are you doing?" a dragon asked in shock as the self-proclaimed dragon king took several menacing steps towards the only full human int the land. Acnologia shot an arm out and several blackish-blue chains raced out of his fingers. Of course the one place they were headed was Mirajane. Natsu had been across the arena but somehow, faster than one could blink, Natsu was in front of Mirajane. Few people registered as Natsu caught the chains then yanked them. Natsu caught Acnologia's outstretched wrist and bent his elbow quickly, slamming Acnologia into the afore mentioned body part.

Natsu growled and sent a hard kick straight into the older man's gut which sent him into the air. Natsu sent a burst of fire to his feet which rocketed him up. Natsu flipped and planted a solid drop kick into his stomach. Acnologia flew away, crashing through several prominent stones on the ground. Natsu roared before a giant blast of magic flew through him and out his mouth, sending white hot flames straight after the afore mentioned man. Natsu and company waited a few solid minutes before Acnologia finally got back to the council area. Acnologia looked a bit worse than before, only a few hairs out of place and looking mildly singed. All in all, it looked like he looked a bit more damaged but could just as easily throw down.

Fucking Gaki. And there you go, that's why you shouldn't kill her. He'll massacre you all before he calms down. Then he'll most likely go on a rampage and kill some more," Acnologia said as he brushed himself off.

The other dragons sat in shock. It didn't take them too long before they all managed to reach a unanimous decision. For those who weren't on Natsu's bad side, everything was fine, but everyone on his shit list felt like they were as good as dead. Now they understood what they needed to do. Leave Natsu Dragneel to his own business and let him figure out this shit for himself. No way they were going to interfere.

* * *

Natsu and Mira had gotten back home and Natsu was immediately bombarded by questions.

"What the hell was the dragon talking about? And why were you two acting like old pals? And what the hell do I smell like? Not to mention, oh you know what," Mira said, flailing her arms in exaggerated motions exasperatedly, "Just… let's do this one at a time, most important first, why did they not kill me?"

"That would be because I marked you," Natsu said uneasily, "They know you're with me, so they wouldn't dare."

She could tell Natsu was leaving something out and she needed to know what it was. There was more to it but what was it? Natsu wasn't saying something and now Mira was frightened, was to something bad? Did he not like her or something?

"Natsu, what aren't you telling me?" Mira asked quietly.

"Am I that readable?" Natsu asked, a sudden weariness overcoming him, "Look, Mirajane. If it's all the same to you, I need a bit of time to process it myself, I'm still not entirely sure what's going on with me. I'm sorry but I do promise I'll tell you at some point, okay?"

"Is it because of your dragon slaying magic?" Mira asked.

"Unfortunately, you hit the nail on the head," Natsu said, "and seeing as you haven't asked again, you're okay with waiting?"

"I am, but in the next year, at most. You will tell me," Mira said, "Next question, why were you and Acnologia so buddy buddy?"

"It's also a dragon slayer thing. Two dragons of equal strength become rivals. They strive to become better than the other but they do not kill unnecessarily. What you saw was the two of us testing each other out once again. We are the two strongest dragons, so it is even more prominent. The two of us will never kill each other so long as the two of us do no other wrongs to the other. I have only killed because it was necessary. I do know that some point, he will do something and when he does, I will kill him. I don't want to, but it'll have to be done."

"Why is he the way he is?"

"His family was murdered by dragons, much like mine, but unlike me, he became furious so he took up the path of vengeance. He wishes to slay all dragons. He goes out of his way to do so," Natsu said.

"Is that why you were raised by dragons?"

"No. My brother, the black haired man in that photo," Natsu sighed, "Zeref made a deal with Igneel made a deal."

"You're brothers with Zeref?" Mira asked incredulously.

"You're taking it surprisingly well at the moment. Yes, and I would appreciate you not telling anyone? I have enough people in the guild look at me like a monster as it is," Natsu said.

"It's alright. I don't think you're a monster if that makes you feel better?"

"A bit, yes. But, and I do suppose this is another thing you mustn't tell anyone, I died and was brought back to my life by Zeref. My, our, family I suppose, was murdered by dragons, my mother, father, and I died. I had no idea what was going on and seconds later, I was dead. Zeref became known by that moniker someone had given him," Natsu sighed, "He was, and still isn't a bad guy. The entirety of the etherious race, myself included – though I have a primary reason and this will only be the secondary – were created in hopes of killing him."

"And will you kill him?"

"Absolutely not. He's my only blood relative," Natsu said before hears ears pricked and heard Mira whisper something to herself. She most likely forgot that he had super hearing and stuff. He couldn't blame her.

"Oh really?"

"You heard me, didn't you?" Mira asked as she sighed.

"You bet, you keep forgetting I have good hearing!"

"I wouldn't just say good," Mira muttered darkly before looking up at a cowering Natsu who had managed to fit his body under his bed, "Hey you! Come back here!"

"Never! You can't make me! You're too scary!"

"Come out," Mira said in a flat voice, intentionally saying it this way so that he would come out. Mira's plan worked because less than a second later, Natsu scrambled out from under and stood straight up in a military salute.

"Yes ma'am?" Natsu asked sweetly.

" _He's cute,_ " Mira thought to herself before grinning and telling Natsu, "Don't call me ma'am, it makes me feel old. I'm twenty six!"

"That's not exactly old? I'm four hundred!" Natsu chirped happily.

"Yes, I'm aware," Mira said, pinching the bridge of her nose at his stupidity, "you are aware that if I was four hundred, I'd be long dead?"

"On no no, that won't do!" Natsu grinned, "I'm sure we can work something out?"

"Of course, Natsu," Mira chuckled at the man's childish antics. If it had been any other person, she would have been annoyed but for whatever reason, one which she happened to know about, it fit Natsu.

Natsu, was practically bouncing with joy for whatever reason he could think of. They still had a few days here before they needed to go anywhere. Sure, he enjoyed humans, especially one particularly attractive one with blue eyes and platinum hair, but he got tired of them, they couldn't really take a hit. Natsu felt that if he punched them with his full strength, it would most likely put a hole through them, regardless of where he hit them.

Natsu was just grinning away like an idiot, happily laughing at basically anything that moved, aaaannnnndddd everything that didn't too. All in all, Natsu was like a happy child who'd just gotten the present of a lifetime. Mirajane couldn't help but feel happy as well, it happened to be quite infectious. Natsu laughed as he ran around, before he turned to Mira and then proceeded to slam face first into the wall. Natsu flopped back on the floor, laughing his ass off.

"Natsu?" Mira asked.

"Yeah?" Natsu asked, turning to his guest, "Something up?"

"Well seeing as it's your home, I wanted to know what else there was to do?"

Natsu's mouth formed an "O" as he thought for a second, "Of course, what do you want to do?"

"Is there anything interesting to see?"

"I don't know if you'd find it interesting, it's more of a dragon thing than a human. We don't have that stuff you do, we have archives and stuff but no museums or aquariums or attractions really. We have an arena if you'd like?" Natsu said, "We don't have restaurants either. How are we supposed to build something that large and keep it structurally sound? Plus the sheer amount of food we need would be impossible to have on hand."

"No lakes or natural sights?"

"Oh we have those in abundance, more than anywhere else I think," Natsu grinned, "Though they're full of monsters and stuff. I'm not sure they'd manage to give you any trouble though. I used to fight them when I was a kid. Then they started to avoid me for whatever reason?"

"I'd imagine kid you was at least twice as strong as I am now so I wouldn't be surprised," Mira chuckled, "I'd imagine that you beat the crap out of them every time?"

"Most of the time," Natsu grinned.

"So," Mirajane paused, "I have a request."

"Shoot."

"Well, I want you to take me somewhere," Mira said.

"Of course, but I do suggest that you sleep right now," Natsu said.

"I don't feel tired?"

"That's because of the sheer amount of ethernano in the air. You haven't slept in about a day in all actuality. The times in the human realm and the dragon realm are different. You'll start to notice the underlying feeling of fatigue now that you know. I think it's best for you to sleep for a bit. I'll wake you up when it's light out tomorrow, so until then, you can sleep in my bed, alright? I'll be around if you need me, just call. I'll hear you," Natsu grinned before snapping and walking out. On the bed was a decent pair of sleep wear so she wouldn't have to sleep in the same thing she wore around each day.

Natsu slipped out of the door before Mirajane could say anything. Mirajane gaped for a second before smiling, at least he cared, right? Natsu was definitely a nice guy. Sure he had his quirks but they just seemed to make the draganoid seem more human, and another thing but she wasn't quite ready to admit it yet.

"Fuck you Natsu, and please, do take care of yourself," Mira said to herself. As confused as she was, she knew one truth. Elfman probably had an idea, and maybe Master but otherwise she thought nobody else knew. Mira chuckled to herself before changing and flopping into her bed. Well, her temporary bed. It was Natsu's actually, smelled just like him too.

"Never thought that you were a bed person Natsu, but hey, bight me. Pleasant surprise. Hopefully you're not as dense as you seem. It'll make my job easier," Mira stopped, listening to the sounds outside of the spacious room she was staying in. Mira chuckled, here she was acing like a teenager again. Damn it all honestly. It could go one of two ways, though she'd never gone through either. Hurt or hurt. If there was one thing Fairy Tail mages were familiar with, it was pain. Of course it was pain.

Mira tore herself away from her current train of thoughts. It would do no good for her to be depressed. Mira laid down on the bed and felt herself sink in a little bit. The bed was slightly colder than she had expected, contrasting greatly with what she expected which was nice. She could get used to it. Mirajane cracked a grin before falling asleep quickly, letting her dreams overtake her.

(o.o)

Mirajane was awoken by a rather large bang and then a roar coming from outside. That couldn't be good. Mirajane shot out of bed and flipped into her Satan Soul just in case. Mirajane exited the door and walked outside cautiously, only to see Natsu growling something to several smaller dragons. It was barely audible but she made out the words: Fuck you (in that order), No, Mine, her, and get the hell out before I smack ya (also in that order).

Said smaller dragons proceeded to run off, or fly off with varying degrees of success. Natsu grinned before turning around and seeing Mira.

"Morning! Sorry, did I wake you up?" Natsu asked sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"What was the big explosion?"

"Me getting angry," Natsu said.

"Why were you angry?"

"The hatchlings were being rowdy again, so I went to deal with it. They wanted to see you because they don't think they'll get the chance to see a human in their lifetime," Natsu said, scratching his head.

"Seems reasonable," Mirajane grinned, "Aren't you human though?"

"Mostly," Natsu said with a sly grin.

"I'm going to assume you're part dragon?"

"That and another thing," Natsu chuckled.

"What's the other thing?" Mirajane questioned suspiciously.

"Has to do with my magic. And my brother of course, though I'll show you at some point. There are a few things I just need to gather first," Natsu said, "Or one really."

"And what might that be?"

"A book."

"Why a book?"

Natsu cracked a grin, "That'd be telling."

Mirajane stepped right up to the taller man and poked him in the chest with each word, "Mark my words, you will tell me."

"Of course, of course. You're cute when your demanding," Natsu grinned before dawning a slightly horrified face. He was about to sputter some sort of apology, but Mirajane smiled happily and his response died in his throat.

"Thank you," Mira said, "Now, let's go somewhere. Namely to eat."

"Of course!" Natsu laughed, momentary awkwardness forgotten, "Do you want to catch it or would you rather have something from the kitchen?"

"Why not try and see what we can catch. I've seen you cooking fish, but I never know how you get it. Maybe something else if we find it?"

"My magic makes it easier to catch fish but I like to think I'm proficient with a fishing rod too though," Natsu chuckled.

"What are you waiting for you big oaf?" Mirajane asked, patting her stomach, "I'm hungry"

"Alright then, you're coming with me then!" Natsu laughed.

"I think I kind of had to do that in the first place," Mira deadpanned.

Natsu just laughed and grabbed Mira. In a few minutes, they were on the outskirts of the forest area. It surprised Mira that there were forests here, given how hot the ambient temperature was. Most trees shouldn't be able to survive so close to places that literally had lava burning next to it. It made no sense but it was still incredible. Natsu grabbed her by the hand and they ran into the forest, only a few thoughts on their minds.


	15. Chapter 15

**How's your week been?**

Natsu had taken Mira to see the sights. Their time was mostly spent looking through the forest and climbing random things. Mira had bet that Natsu couldn't climb a particularly large tree but was shut up when he proceeded to jump over the tree, and the next one, and the next one, all in one go. Mira had promptly sulk in the corner under the aforementioned tree. Natsu just laughed and they went to get something to eat. Mirajane could swear that he had a bottomless stomach. A light snack for him was full sized buffet for a normal human (or it seemed that way anyway). With Natsu needing to fill his stomach with startling regularity, they spent a lot of time cooking and eating while walking. On his way back from relieving himself, he managed to snag a large mammalian creature easily twice he size of an adult forest vulcan.

Natsu was grilling it as he walked, his body acting as the fire and a spear of ice trailing behind him the spit. He held the creature above himself with a spear of ice that slid along the ground behind them. The creature was speared through and Natsu's body was alight, cooking the large monster as they walked. That's how they'd done most of their food unless Natsu felt like it would burn. Mirajane, for the most part, was keeping an eye out for anything that caught her eye or looked edible. They passed several monsters but Mira dared not point them out in fear of being forced to eat it.

Eventually, they (Natsu) got bored and they went back to civilization, or the loose set of constructions that were considered civilization. Dragons weren't the biggest on homes because of the sheer amount of time and energy (not to mention resources) it would take. Natsu was itching for a fight. Maybe Igneel would be up for a spar again. It had been a long time since he did that. Or maybe the old man would be up for it. He'd never actually gotten to fight him. Natsu yearned to battle the black dragon. The teacher of Acnologia, one of the oldest dragons in history (not to mention strongest) was what Natsu considered to be his current challenge. Acnologia was a great fight, Natsu even had a semifriend relationship with the pseudodragon, but to Natsu, the most desirable fight was the one that he'd never get. Natsu had practically jumped up and down when he found out a key piece of information about his magic, a few requirements to become a dragon as was wished.

Of course, he was completely free to make that choice himself and it made little difference whether he was human or not. He was still part human, part dragon, part devil/demon/etherious and it would always be that way. He simply needed to be recognized as a true dragon by members of the dragon community. Simple enough, a dragons blessing would prevent the typical bloodlust that was associated with dragons. Natsu chuckled to himself, silly humans. Natsu then proceeded to laugh at himself, he was a human! Mostly anyway.

"What are you laughing at?" Mirajane asked, her curiosity piqued.

"Humans," Natsu chuckled.

"You are a human though?" Mira asked questioningly.

"My line of thought exactly!"

Natsu and Mira talked about random things. Natsu was picking fights with trees as many had adopted reddish-brown mottled bark that had become both flame retardant but most resistant to heat and other energies as well. Natsu had struck it with fire, lightening, some of his ice even. Nothing. Natsu could have sworn he made part of it burn but Mira proceeded to rub off the smudged ash… With his head. Mirajane proceeded to pull him back by the hair and show him that nothing was there.

"Damnit! I'll get it at some point!"

"Of course you will Natsu," Mirajane said before muttering as an afterthought,  
Though probably not in this lifetime anyhow."

"What did you say?" Natsu asked, though Mira knew he could hear her perfectly.

"Oh just doubting your abilities," Mirajane said.

"Say it again!" Natsu said, crimson flames lighting in his hands.

"Coming from the guy who can't even scratch a tree," Mira paused before grinning wickedly, "I seriously doubt you could even touch me, Matchstick."

"I recall a certain incident on a boat that begs to differ," Natsu sing-songed.

"I'm impressed, I find it hard to believe that your memory goes back that far. It's hard to see, miscreant that you are."

"Oh of course, I certainly have my moments of intelligence though little can be said about you," Natsu chuckled, "I do recall a certain stereotype surrounding models. Not to mention, what was it that Gray said about your floor plans?"

"Hmm… I certainly recall," Mira said dryly before glancing down, "Natsu, your laces are undone."

"Are they?" Natsu asked, bending down, "wait a minute!"

"What?"

"I don't have laces," Natsu yelled.

"I'm quite aware, I doubt you could tie them on your own anyway."

"As I am sure that I could just as easily replace you with dog, if only to be rid of you. I'm not sure many would notice the difference."

"Oh Natsu, if that's the extent of your wit, I must take my leave."

"Oh? Does the fair lady not need a guide to this most dangerous land," Natsu asked.

"Not when the man guiding her is infinitely more so," Mira chuckled.

"Oh really? And what makes me dangerous?"

"If not your certain lack of intelligence then most definitely your smell," Mira said, wrinkling her nose.

"I would agree but as you are here as well, I think that you aren't much better."

"I disagree, I simply think that you have tried to drag me down to the filthy confines of a degenerate lowlife such as yourself."

"I think it's quite the opposite, I'm trying to hoist you up, though there are some… difficulties," Natsu said moving his hand in a few, concise gestures.

"Oh? And here I thought you liked someone who could eat? Though you wouldn't know it with the way I dress," the platinum blonde said conspiratorially, "I could be the size of a house and simply use my magic to hide it!"

"Yeah of course, more like moved it around," Natsu muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing!"

"Sure it was," Mira said, "Banter aside, I have a question for you."

"Shoot."

"What are all of your magics?" Mirajane asked.

"I figured that's what it would be. I'll some of them, deal?"

"That's excluding the ones I already know," Mirajane said.

"Of course," Natsu laughed, "First, I can use Creation dragon magic, which isn't as cool as it sounds but definitely still cool. It's how I made the boat. I can transmute substances into others as long as I have enough of it to create the product I want. So I could turn a street light into a small dagger or short sword. I can make the boat from a tree. I can't use it on anything alive with the exception of plants or things like that, no changing our arm into a leg, and no changing my own into a sword. It has something to do with the fundamental components or structures or something like that."

"Can you turn something like metal into stone?"

"Nah, has to be the same substance. I can turn steam into ice, but any ice mage should be able to do it too."

"So again, not an issue for you."

"Yeah I guess," Natsu chuckled before Mira gestured for him to go one, "Oh right, sorry. I can use Sensory dragon magic because it helped me train. I didn't exactly mean to learn it but I just figured out how it felt and replicated it, though there were some road bumps. I almost lost my vision and smell and basically every sense several times. It's extremely difficult to control but I can manipulate peoples' senses whether it's amplifying them or removing them. I don't use it combat really because it takes a lot of concentration to use unless I wanted to irreversibly damage them. I can tap into it fairly easy though as it stemmed from my strengthened senses. I can however manipulate them on a massive scale as long as I am only focused on that task."

"Can I experience this?"

"Sure, what do you want me to do?"

"I dunno? Surprise me?"

At this, Natsu chuckled. He closed his eyes and stood still, before a purple magic circle surrounded both of them. Mirajane instantly felt her senses sharpen. Was this what Natsu's senses were like? Every small detail on the leaves jumped out at her, the buzzing of an insect thirty meters away sounded like it was right in her ear. She closed her eyes as Natsu's scent jumped out at her in a way that she'd never have imagined, the smoky smell mixing with the rich, earthy smell of the forest, as well as tone's she'd never have picked up on. There were subtle hints of a fast-flowing stream and the just barely noticeable hints of a musky undertone.

Mirajane slowly opened her eyes, releasing a somewhat shaky breath. She hadn't expected him to smell like that. She was amazed, of course anyone could smell the smoky exterior, but the other smells surprised her. She found herself quite enjoying Natsu's scent. It was something she'd never have expected, was this what Natsu dealt with every day? It must be so distracting! What did she smell like?

Mirajane's brain finally caught up to her eyes. She was staring dead at Natsu, less than an arm's length away. Interesting. Not unpleasant. Certainly not unpleasant. It was quite nice actually. Her eyes flitted over Natsu's face, taking in small details that she hadn't noticed or was simply admiring. A small intake of breath caught her attention, causing her eyes to drift ever so slightly lower. She let out a quick breath and her eyes quickly darted back up, ocean blue meeting onyx. The ever so slight crinkle to Natsu's brows and the way his eyes sparkled signaled that he was either happy or amused, quite likely both. Why did she notice that?

Natsu wasn't faring much better than Mirajane, his mind running rampant. Even though he had spent a long time around her (a long time to him at least), he kept noticing small things. And this was certainly the first time he'd seen her like this. He couldn't seem to keep his mind off of the beautiful woman in front of him, looking so incredible. At first he had watched how she experienced what it was like to be a dragon, but then she closed her eyes. A blissful look had spread across her face and Natsu hadn't been able to tear his eyes away. Oh and then she took a shallow breath and her breathing hitched as she slowly opened her eyes. Natsu could feel her eyes combing over his face and a pleasant feeling rushed over him.

Both Natsu and Mirajane locked eyes again and for a moment, everything was perfectly still. Natsu breathed out gently, taking in every detail about the stunning woman in front of him. Mirajane sucked a breath in as her eyes darted furtively over Natsu, moving from his face to the open jacket he was wearing. Natsu was wearing a black jacket with a red stylized dragon sleeve and a lowcut white shirt. Mirajane was very appreciative as it showed of his well-developed pecks and abs.

Mirajane felt Natsu wrap his arms around her and her body's spike in heat. Uh oh. Mirajane lightly placed her hand between herself and his chest. Natsu, thankfully, pulled himself back. He had a slightly far off look. Had he misunderstood? She hadn't wanted to stop but she needed to! It wasn't that she didn't enjoy it, she did, more so than most things! As if sensing her internal turmoil, Natsu spoke softly.

"Thank you. For stopping us I mean," Natsu said, "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Mirajane asked.

"Making you uncomfortable," Natsu said, looking down.

Mira's fears melted away, he wasn't mad! "No no no! I find myself enjoying it all too much."

"Oh really?" Natsu asked cheekily.

"Just for that, you'll never hear me say it again. Nope! Alas, I can no longer speak of how I enjoy my time with you, what a tragedy!"

"How ever shall you bury such a treasure?"

"How do I leave this buried treasure behind?" Mirajane wondered, "Like this!"

Mirajane proceeded to grab a handful of plant matter and shove it in Natsu's face and hair before running off. Natsu sat, flabbergasted. Sure, it hadn't done much but she had managed to catch him off guard. Natsu shook his head and chased after her.


End file.
